Delay thou not to break the chosen vessel, for else it may some baser usage serve, What should be God’s, becoming only man’s. ‘Tis better they should… - Friedrich Hölderlin

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Delay thou not to break the chosen vessel,
for else it may some baser usage serve,
What should be God’s, becoming only man’s.
‘Tis better they should die, these fortunates,
Before (to trifles, shames and weaknesses a prey)
They perish ignominiously. ‘Tis better, far,
For the free man to choose his time for death,
A loving sacrifice to the high gods

English
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About Friedrich Hölderlin

Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (20 March 1770 – 6 June 1843) was a major German lyric poet, whose work bridges the Classical and Romantic schools.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin
Alternative Names: Frederich Holderlin
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Additional quotes by Friedrich Hölderlin

when i was a boy
a god often rescued me
from the shouts and the rods of men
and i played among trees and flowers
secure in their kindness
and the breezes of heaven
were playing there too.

and as you delight
the hearts of plants
when they stretch towards you
with little strength

so you delighted the heart in me
father Helios, and like Endymion
i was your favourite,
Moon. o all

you friendly
and faithful gods
i wish you could know
how my soul has loved you.

even though when i called to you then
it was not yet with names, and you
never named me as people do
as though they knew one another

i knew you better
than i have ever known them.
i understood the stillness above the sky
but never the words of men.

trees were my teachers
melodious trees
and i learned to love
among flowers.

i grew up in the arms of the gods.

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O man is a god when he dreams, a beggar when he thinks, and when enthusiasm is gone, he stands there like a wayward son whom the father has driven out of the house and regards the meager pennies that pity gave him for the journey.

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