Mephistopheles.
"Im Ganzen—haltet euch an Worte!
Dann geht ihr durch die sichere Pforte
Zum Tempel der Gewissheit ein."Schuler.
"Doch ein Begriff muss bey dem Worte seyn."
Mephistopheles.
"Schon gut! nur muss man sich nicht allzu ängstlich quälen,
Denn eben wo Begriffe fehlen,
Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten zeit sich ein.
Mit Worten lässt sich trefflich streiten,
Mit Worten ein System bereiten.
An Werte lässt sich trefflich glauben,
Von einem Wort lässt sich kein Iota rauben."—Goëthe's Faust.
"And when I have enumerated these, I imagine I have comprehendedalmost every thing which can enter into the composition of theintellectual life of man. With the single exception of reason, (andreason can scarcely operate without the intervention of language,)is there any thing more important to man, more peculiar to him, ormore inseparable from his nature than speech? Nature indeed couldnot have bestowed on us a gift more precious than the human voice,which, possessing sounds for the expression of every feeling, andbeing capable of distinctions as minute, and combinations asintricate as the most complex instrument of music; is thus enabledto furnish materials so admirable for the formation of artificiallanguage. The greatest and most important discovery of humaningenuity is writing; there is no impiety in saying, that it wasscarcely in the power of the Deity to confer on man a more gloriouspresent than Language, by the medium of which, he himself has beenrevealed to us, and which affords at once the strongest bond ofunion, and the best instrument of communication. So inseparableindeed are mind and language, so identically one are thought andspeech, that although we must always hold reason to be the greatcharacteristic and peculiar attribute of man, yet language also,when we regard its original object and intrinsic dignity, is wellintitled to be considered as a component part of the intellectualstructure of our being. And although, in strict application, andrigid expression, thought and speech always are, and always mustbe, regarded as two things metaphysically distinct,—yet there onlycan we find these two elements in disunion, where one or both havebeen employed imperfectly or amiss. Nay, such is the effect of theoriginal unity or identity that, in their most extensivevarieties of application, they can never be totally disunited, butmust always remain inseparable, and every where be exerted incombination."—Frederick Schlegel's Lectures on the History ofLiterature, (English Translation, 1818,) page 11.
My dearest Daughter