Quote: What you can do, or dream you can, begin it, Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. (John Anster's translation of Goethe 1835)

[Garson O'Toole]

Google Books now contains the translation of Goethe's Faustus that was
performed by John Anster and published in 1835. Apparently, it was a
very free translation. Below is the cite and a key couplet:

Cite: 1835, Faustus, A Dramatic Mystery; The Bride of Corinth; The
First Walpurgis Night, Translated from the German of Goethe, and
Illustrated with Notes by John Anster, Printed for Longman, Rees,
Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, London. (Google Books full view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=DpY6AAAAcAAJ&q=%22Boldness+has%22#v=snippet&

What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.


YBQ has a later version of these two lines that begins with
"Whatever". I did not see these words in the Oxford Dictionary of
Quotations.

The Goethe Society of North America has a discussion that includes
some lines in German that may be the section John Anster was freely
translating.
http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.html

Here is a longer section from the work by John Anster:

Lose this day loitering--'twill be the same story
To-morrow--and the next more dilatory;
Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.
Are you in earnest? seize this very minute--
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it,
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated--
Begin it, and the work will be completed!

Garson

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