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Quotation from Faust, Part One by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“While Man’s desires and aspirations stir, He cannot choose but err.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (spoken by The Lord)

Faust, Part One, Prologue in Heaven (German l. 317), trans. Bayard Taylor (1870)

Portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Granting Mephistopheles leave to tempt Faust, the Lord states that error is the companion of human striving.

Citation: "While Man’s desires and aspirations stir, He cannot choose but err." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, Part One, Prologue in Heaven (German l. 317), trans. Bayard Taylor (1870). (id goethe-faust-part-one-q1)

Portrait: Goethe (Stieler 1828), Joseph Karl Stieler, Public domain.

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Quote card: While Man’s desires and aspirations stir, He cannot choose but err.