The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

4 May 1771

How happy I am to be away!
To leave you, whom I love so, from whom I was inseparable, and to be happy! I know that you will forgive me.
Poor Leonore! And yet I was innocent. Was it my fault that, while I was taking pleasure and amusement in the wilful charms of her sister, a passion was growing in that poor heart?
Of course you are right, my friend, that the pains people endure would be less if only--God knows why they are made that way!--if only they did not put so much imaginative energy into recalling the memory of past misfortune, rather than bear an indifferent present with equanimity.
And once again, dear friend, I have found while seeing to this little matter that misunderstandings and lethargy perhaps lead to more complications in the affairs of the world than trickery and wickedness. At least, the two latter are surely less common.

10 May

I am alone and rejoicing in my life in these parts, which were created for just such souls as mine.
The glory of these visions, their power and magnificence, will be my undoing.

12 May

Not a day goes by but I spend an hour sitting there. And the girls come out from the town to fetch water, the most innocent and necessary of tasks which in the former times was done by the daughters of kings themselves.

13 May

Dear friend! do I need to tell you that, you who have so often endured seeing me pass from sorrow to excessive joy, from sweet melancholy to destructive passion?

15 May

I well know we are not equal, nor can be; but I maintain that he who supposes he must keep his distance from what they call the rabble, to preserve the respect due to him, is as much to blame as a coward who hides from his enemy for fear of being beaten.

17 May

Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.
They say it brings joy to the spirit to see him among his children, nine of them; his eldest daughter in particular is highly spoken of.

22 May

All our learned teachers and educators are agreed that children do not know why they want what they want; but no one is willing to believe that adults too, like children, wander about this earth in a daze and, like children, do not know where they come from or where they are going, act as rarely as they do according to genuine motive, and are as thoroughly governed as they are by biscuits and cake and the rod. And yet it seems palpably clear to me.
And then, confined as he may be, he none the less still preserves in his heart the sweet sensation of freedom, and the knowledge that he can quit this prison whenever he wishes.

26 May

If the man obeys, he will turn out a respectable young chap, and I should personally advise any prince to appoint him to his council; but his love will be done for, and so, if he is an artist, his art.

27 May

I see that I have fallen into raptures, parables and declamation, and in the process have forgotten to tell you the rest of the story concerning the children.
On Sundays, they never lack for a kreutzer, and, if I am not there after vespers, the inn-woman has instructions to pay it out.

30 May

It is better for me to see her with the eyes of her lover; perhaps she would not appear to my own eyes as she does now, and why should I ruin the beautiful image I have?

16 June

You might guess that things are well with me, and indeed--In a word, I have made an acquaintance who has touched my heart very closely. I have--I know not what.
An angel!--Rot!--Every man says this about his beloved, does he not? And yet I am unable to tell you how, and why, she is perfection itself; sufficed to say she has captivated me utterly.
'You will be getting to know a beautiful young woman,' my companion informed me as we drove through the vast wooded park to the hunting lodge.--'Be on your guard,' put in the aunt, 'and take care not to fall in love!'
Lotte: And I like the author best who shows me my own world, conditions such as I live in myself, and a story that can engage my interest and heart as much as my own domestic life does, which is certainly no paradise but is still on the whole a source of inexpressible happiness.
Never in my life have I danced so well. I was no longer a mere mortal.
'Why should I hide it from you?' she said, as she gave me her hand for the promenade. 'Albert is a dear, honest man to whom I am as good as engaged.'
She stood there resting on her elbows, gazing deep into the country about us; she looked to the heavens, and at me, and I saw there were tears in her eyes; and she laid her hand on mine and said, 'Klopstock!'
(Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's ode, "Die Frühlingsfeier")

19 June

'As long as your eyes are open,' I replied, gazing evenly at her, 'there is little chance of my sleeping.'

21 June

It is good that my heart can feel the simple and innocent pleasure a man knows when the cabbage he eats at table is one he grew himself; the pleasure he takes in not only eating the cabbage but in remembering all those good days, the fine morning he planted it, the mellow evenings he watered it and the delight he felt in its daily growth.

29 June

The day before yesterday the physician came out from town to visit the estate officer and found me on the floor with Lotte's children, some of them climbing on top of me, some of them poking me, and me tickling them, and all of us yelling our heads off.

1 July

I was particularly vexed to gather from his facial expression that what prevented him from speaking was not want of wit but rather a perverse ill-humour.
'We often complain that there are so few good days and so many bad ones,' I began, 'but I think we are wrong to do so. If our hearts were always open, so that we could enjoy the good things God bestows on us every day, we should also have the strength to bear the misfortunes that come our way.'
'We are talking about an unpleasant feeling that everyone prefers to be rid of,' I answered, 'and no one knows the extent of his own powers till he has tested them. The sick will consult any number of doctors, after all, and will submit to the strictest regimen and swallow the bitterest pills, to be restored to health as they wish.'
'Every day we should remind ourselves,' I exclaimed, 'that there is nothing we can do for our friends but to leave them their pleasures and to increase their happiness by enjoying it with them. When their inmost souls are tormented by terrifying passion or torn with grief, can you afford them the slightest consolation?

6 July

At this I recalled that the man had a child baptized a week ago, so I let it pass, preserving the truth in my own heart: we should treat children as God treats us; He makes us happiest when He leaves us our pleasant delusions.

8 July

What a child one is! How one can be so hungry for a look! What a child one is!
I tried to catch Lotte's eyes; but ah, they gazed from one to another! but not at me! me! me! The only one who saw nothing but her, but she did not look my way!

10 July

Like her! I utterly detest the word. What kind of man would merely like Lotte, and not have all his senses and feelings dominated by her!

11 July

I talked to Lotte about the unbelievable ways that Man can be deluded; how a man might not suspect there was more to things than met the eye when he allowed seven florins to cover the expenses that were maybe twice as great.

13 July

Is this presumption, or a feeling for the way things truly are?--I can think of no man who represents a threat to me in Lotte's heart. And yet, whenever she speaks of her intended, speaks of him with such warmth and love, I feel as if I had been stripped of all honour and rank and had my sword taken from me.

16 July

And oh! her innocence and her ingenuous spirit do not feel what agonies these little intimacies put me through.
But still, Wilhelm, if I should ever dare abuse this heaven, and her trust!--You know what I mean. No, my heart is not so corrupt!

18 July

Today I was unable to visit Lotte because I had an engagement I could not cancel. What could I do? I sent my servant to her house, so that I would at least have someone about me who had been near her today.

19 July

'I shall see her today!' And then I have no other wishes all day long.

20 July

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honour or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

24 July

I have never felt happier, and my feelings for Nature, down to tiny pebbles and blades of grass, have never been so full and acute, and yet--I do not know how to express myself; my imaginative powers are so weak, and everything slides and shifts before my soul, so that I cannot grasp the outlines; but I fancy I might make a go of it if I had some clay or wax to model.

26 July

Yes, dear Lotte, I shall arrange and order everything; give me as many things to do as you like, and as often as possible.

26 July

My grandmother used to tell a story about a magnetic mountain: ships that sailed too close were suddenly stripped of their ironwork, the nails flew to the mountain and the wretched travelers perished in the falling timbers.

30 July

Albert has arrived, and I shall leave; even if he were the best and noblest of men, one to whom I should be willing to think myself inferior in every respect, it would be unbearable to see him before me, in possession of such perfections.
A dear an honest man whom one cannot help liking.
He is considerate, too, and has not yet kissed Lotte a single time in my presence.
He is well disposed towards me, which I take to be Lotte's doing rather than his own feeling; for in such matters women have a delicate sense of tact, and quite rightly so, because if they can keep two admirers on good terms with each, however rarely it might be possible, the advantage is always their own.

8 August

Would you insist that some wretch whose life is slowly but surely being drained away by lingering disease put an end to his miseries with one sharp thrust of his dagger? Does not the malady that consumes his strength also rob him of the courage to seek his deliverance?

The same evening

How clearly I saw my position, and yet how childishly I behaved; and I still see it clearly now, and yet there is no sign of improvement.

10 August

I have rarely come across anyone to equal his orderliness and diligence in business affairs.

12 August

On this occasion he preached a veritable sermon, and finally I ceased to listen to him, fell to brooding and suddenly placed the mouth of the pistol against my forehead, above my right eye.--'What rot!' said Albert, taking the pistol from me. 'What are you playing at?'--'It isn't loaded,' I said.
Woe to anyone who can look on and say, "The foolish girl! If only she had waited, and let time heal, her despair would have passed and she would have found someone else to comfort her."--One might as well say, "The fool, to die of a fever! If only he had waited till he recovered his strength, his fluids were improved and his blood was calmer: it would all have been well, and he would still be alive today!"
And we parted without either having understood the other. But then, it is never easy for men to understand each other in this world.

15 August

Without doubt, the only thing that makes Man's life on earth essential and necessary is love. I sense that Lotte would be sorry to lose me, and the children can only ever imagine me coming again on the morrow.

18 August

My heart's immense and ardent feeling for living Nature, which overwhelmed me with so great a joy and made the world about me a very paradise, has now become an unbearable torment, a demon that goes with me everywhere, torturing me.
And so I go my fearful way betwixt heaven and earth and all their active forces; and all I can see is a monster, forever devouring, regurgitating, chewing and gorging.

21 August

Ah, still half asleep I reach for her, cheered to think she is there--and a flood of tears pours from my sorely beset heart, and I weep inconsolably over my sombre future.

22 August

I swear there are times when I wish I could be a day labourer, simply in order to have something to look forward to in the day ahead, a sense of purpose, hope.
But then, when I consider it anew, and the story of the horse that grew weary of freedom, had itself saddled and bridled, and was ridden into the ground occurs to me--I do not know what to do.

28 August

Today is my birthday, and early in the morning a package arrived from Albert.

30 August

And if melancholy is not allowed to prevail, and Lotte does not permit me the miserable solace of weeping her hand for relief, I have to leave, and go out--and then I wander far and wide in the fields, and take pleasure in climbing a precipitous mountain, and beating a path through thick forest, hurt by the briers, torn by their thorns! Then I feel somewhat better!
Adieu! I see no end to my misery but the grave.

3 September

I must go. She is in town again, with a friend. And Albert--and--I must go!

10 September

Ah, she will be sleeping peacefully, without a suspicion that she will never see me again. I have torn myself away; and I had the fortitude not to betray my intention during a two-hour talk. And my God, what a talk it was!
Then I shed a tear of longing, and raise my eyes to the heaven, and wish she could look down for one moment and see that I am keeping the promise I made at the hour of her death: to be a mother to her children.
'Lotte!' I exclaimed, falling at her feet, seizing her hand and shedding a thousand tears on it--'Lotte!! God's blessing and the spirit of your mother are upon you!'--'If only you had known her,' she said, squeezing my hand; 'she was worthy of being known by you!'--I thought it would be the end of me. Nobody has ever paid me a greater or prouder compliment.
'Farewell, Lotte! Farewell, Albert! We shall meet again.'--'Tomorrow, I expect,' she countered in jest.