"That children don't know what they want is something that all well-educated teachers and hop masters agree on; that, however, adults also stumble on this earth like children, and just like them, they do not know where they come from and where they are going; that they act just as little according to true goals, and are governed just as much with rusks and cakes and birch sticks: no one likes to believe that, even though I think it is a tangible truth.
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Author
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheAll Translations
All Translations
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That children don't know what they want is something that all well-educated teachers and hop masters agree on; that, however, adults also stumble on this earth like children, and just like them, they do not know where they come from and where they are going; that they act just as little according to true goals, and are governed just as much with rusks and cakes and birch sticks: no one likes to believe that, even though I think it is a tangible truth.
""Hogy a gyerekek nem tudják, mit akarnak, abban minden nagy tudományú tanító- és hopmester egyetért; hogy azonban felnőttek is gyermek módra támolyognak ezen a földön, és mint azok, éppúgy nem tudják, honnan jönnek és hová mennek; hogy éppoly kevéssé cselekszenek igaz célok szerint, s éppúgy kétszersülttel és kaláccsal és nyírfavesszővel kormányozzák őket: azt senkinek sem ízlik elhinni, pedig úgy vélem, kézzelfogható igazság."