ness and emptiness, this legal
knavery, this ineptitude and insipidity,--how can they be expressed by a
single man? There ought to be at least a dozen of these people if they
could be had, for it is only in society that they are anything; they
are society itself; and Shakespeare showed no little wisdom and
discernment in bringing in a pair of them. Besides, I need them as a
couple that may be contrasted with the single, noble, excellent
Horatio."

THE INDENTURE

From 'Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'

Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient. To
act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is
troublesome. Every beginning is cheerful; the threshold is the place of
expectation. The boy stands astonished, his impressions guide him; he
learns sportfully, seriousness comes on him by surprise. Imitation is
born with us; what should be imitated is not easy to discover. The
excellent is rarely found, more rarely valued. The height charms us, the
steps to it do not; with the summit in our eye, we love to walk along
the plain. It is but a part of art that can be taught; the artist needs
it all. Who knows it half, speaks much and is always wrong; who knows it
wholly, inclines to act and speaks seldom or late. The former have no
secrets and no force; the instruction they can give is like baked bread,
savory and satisfying for a single day; but flour cannot be sown, and
seed corn ought not to be ground. Words are good, but they are not the
best. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we
act is the highest matter. Action can be understood and again
represented by the spirit alone. No one knows what he is doing while he
acts aright; but of what is wrong we are always conscious. Whoever works
with symbols only is a pedant, a hypocrite, or a bungler. There are many
such, and they like to be together. Their babbling detains the scholar;
their obstinate mediocrity vexes even the best. The instruction which
the true artist gives us opens the mind; for where words fail him, deeds
speak. The true scholar learns from the known to unfold the unknown, and
approaches more and more to being a master.

THE HARPER'S SONGS

From 'Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'

"What notes are those without the wall,
Across the portal sounding?
Let's have the music in our hall,
Back from its roof rebounding."
So spoke the king: the henchman flies;
His answer