[Ads-l] 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)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Way back in October 2011 I posted to the list about a quotation that
has often been incorrectly attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Now an entry on the topic is available on the QI website. Great thanks
to Bonnie for help verifying the text of "The Scottish Himalayan
Expedition" on paper.

What You Can Do, or Dream You Can, Begin It; Boldness Has Genius,
Power, and Magic in It
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/02/09/boldness/

Feedback welcome,
Garson


On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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