Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 1.djvu/27

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
TO THE READER
xvii

age,—the dunce,—he that speaks irrationally, that sees not, and yet thinks he sees. A genuine seer and speaker, under what conditions soever, shall he welcome to us; has he not seen somewhat of great Nature our common mother’s bringing forth,—seen it, loved it, laid his heart open to it and to the mother of it, so that he can now rationally speak it for us? He is our brother, and a good, not a bad, man: his words are like gold, precious, whether stamped in our mint, or in what mint soever stamped.

London, November, 1839.