Noble be man, Helpful and good! For that alone Sets him apart From every other… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Noble be man, Helpful and good! For that alone Sets him apart From every other creature On earth.
In the original German
Edel sei der Mensch, Hilfreich und gut! Denn das allein Unterscheidet ihn Von allen Wesen, Die wir kennen.
1783
★ 3.7Provenance
Current citation
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "The Godlike." The Essential Goethe, edited and translated by Matthew Bell. Princeton University Press, 2018.
Original citation
Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Quoted in "Das Gottliche [The Divine]." Uber die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen ad den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn [On the Teachings of Spinoza in Letters to Moses Mendelssohn], written by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. Breslau: Gottlieb Lowe, 1785, pp. 2-4.
