This page: | index pages:
|
Peer Gynt
(1867) Copyright © 1963 by Michael Meyer | ||
---|---|---|
Act Three |
Peer: [...] Repent? It might take years to fight my way through. That would be a poor life; To smash what is pure, precious and beautiful, And piece it together from broken fragments. You can do that with a fiddle, but not with a bell. Where the grass would grow green, one mustnt tread. | Topic: |
Act Four |
Peer: You think it was a trifle unethical? I felt the same myselfoh, very keenly. I may even say I hated it. But believe me, once youve begun, its hard to stop. And I didnt want to create unemployment. | Topic: |
Peer: We Northern warriors know how to carry a battle Through to its harsh conclusion. The key to life Is simply this. Close your ear against The infiltration of a dangerous serpent. Cotton: What serpent, my good friend? Peer: A little one that is most seductive. The one that tempts you to commit yourself. The art of success is to stand free And uncommitted amid the snares of life. To know that the day of battle is not the day Of judgment. There are other days to come. To know that a bridge always remains open Behind you. | Topic: | |
Peer: [...] The empty-fisted are always rash to gamble. The man who scarcely owns the strip of earth His shadow covers, is natural cannon fodder. But when a man is as rich as I am, He has much to lose. | Topic: | |
Peer: [...] Oh, listen to me! Never mind other people. The world can take care of itself for a while. No, hes not listening. Hes deaf as usual. Thats charming! A God who wont help when you need him. | Topic: | |
Peer: [...] To be oneself by the power of gold Is simply to build ones house upon sand. If youve a gold watch and a diamond ring People will fawn and grovel before you. Theyll raise their hats to your glittering tiepin But the ring and the pin are not the man. | Topic: | |
Peer: [...] I had no intention of deceiving them. Prophetic utterances are not lies. Besides, I can always revise my interpretations. | Topic: | |
Begriffenfeldt: Beside oneself? No, there youre quite mistaken. Here we are ourselves with a vengeance; Ourselves and nothing whatever but ourselves. We go full steam through life under the pressure of self. Each one shuts himself up in the cask of self, Sinks to the bottom by self-fermentation, Seals himself in with the bung of self, And seasons in the well of self. No one here weeps for the woes of others. No one here listens to anyone elses ideas. We are ourselves, in thought and in deed, Ourselves to the very limit of lifes springboard. | Topic: | |
text checked (see note) Feb 2006 |