One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

In the original German

Man sollte alle Tage wenigstens ein kleines Lied hören, ein gutes Gedicht lesen, ein treffliches Gemälde sehen und, wenn es möglich zu machen wäre, einige vernünftige Worte sprechen.

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship · 1786
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Current citation
Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship." Goethe: The Collected Works, edited and translated by Eric A. Blackall. Vol. 9, Princeton University Press, 1995, bk. 5, ch. 1.
Original citation
Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre [Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship]. Berlin: Johann Friedrich Unger, 1785-1786, bk. 5, ch. 1.