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If you reside in a state where you attain your legal majority while still in your teens, pretend that you don’t. There isn’t an adult alive who would want to be contractually bound by a decision he came to at the age of nineteen.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist
“Tips for Teens,” Social Studies (1981)
    (Source)
 
Added on 1-Feb-24 | Last updated 1-Feb-24
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FAUST
So you still have laws in Hell, in fact?
That’s good, since it allows a pact,
And one with you gentlemen truly binds?

MEPHISTOPHELES
What’s promised you’ll enjoy, and find,
There’s nothing mean that we enact.

[FAUST
Die Hölle selbst hat ihre Rechte?
Das find ich gut, da ließe sich ein Pakt,
Und sicher wohl, mit euch, ihr Herren, schließen?

MEPHISTOPHELES.
Was man verspricht, das sollst du rein genießen,
Dir wird davon nichts abgezwackt.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Faust: a Tragedy [eine Tragödie], Part 1, sc. 6 “The Study,” l. 1466ff (1808-1829) [tr. Kline (2003)]
    (Source)

Some translations (and this site) include the Declaration, Prelude on the Stage, and Prologue in Heaven as individual scenes; others do not, leading to their Part 1 scenes being numbered three lower.

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

FAUST
In Hell itself are some laws binding reckoned?
Bravo! then Sirs, with you one might contract
A bond, and ye would keep it to a tittle?

MEPHISTOPHELES
From what we promise, not a shred we whittle,
And unalloyed thou shalt enjoy the pact.

[tr. Latham (1790)]

FAUST
Does Hell itself have its laws then?
that's fine! A compact in that case might be
Concluded safely with you gentlemen?

MEPHISTOPHELES
What's promised, you'll enjoy with naught subtracted,
With naught unduly snipped off or exacted.

[tr. Priest (1808)]

FAUST
Hell then, it seems, has laws. I like it well:
With gentry so precise, a solemn compact
May, I presume, be made, and will be kept.

MEPHISTOPHELES
Whate'er we promise you may safely trust to;
We will not bate one jot of the agreement.

[tr. Coleridge (1821)]

FAUST
E'en hell hath its peculiar laws, I see!
I'm glad of that! a pact may then be made,
The which you gentlemen will surely keep?

MEPHISTOPHELES
What e'er therein is promised thou shalt reap,
No tittle shall remain unpaid.

[tr. Swanwick (1950)]

FAUST: Hell itself has its laws ? I am glad of it; in that case a compact, a binding one, may be made with you gentlemen?

MEPHISTOPHELES: What is promised, that shalt thou enjoy to the letter; not the smallest deduction shall be made from it.

[tr. Hayward (1831)]

FAUST
In hell itself, then, laws are reckoned?
Now that I like; so then, one may, in fact,
Conclude a binding compact with you gentry?

MEPHSTOPHELES
Whatever promise on our books finds entry,
We strictly carry into act.

[tr. Brooks (1868)]

FAUST
In Hell itself, then, laws are reckoned?
That's well! So might a compact be
Made with you gentlemen -- and binding, -- surely?

MEPHISTOPHELES
All that is promised shall delight thee purely;
No skinflint bargain shalt thou see.

[tr. Taylor (1870)]

FAUST
So so! then hell too has its laws and rights,
Thus might one profit by the powers of evil,
And make an honest bargain with the devil.

MEPHISTOPHELES
The devil, sir, makes no undue exaction,
And pays what he has promised to a fraction

[tr. Blackie (1880)]

FAUST
For hell, too, laws have been ordained?
Superb! Then one could surely make a pact,
And one of you might enter my employ.

MEPHISTOPHELES
What we would promise you, you would enjoy.
And none of it we would subtract.

[tr. Kaufmann (1961)]

FAUST
So Hell itself has its legalities?
This suits me fine, and I suppose
a pact might be concluded with you gentlemen?

MEPHISTOPHELES
The promises we make you shall enjoy in full;
We will not skimp or haggle.

[tr. Salm (1962)]

FAUST
Is even Hell with statutes paved?
I am intrigued -- then with you gentlemen
A compact could, and safely too, be entered?

MEPHISTOPHELES
That which is promised shall be neatly rendered,
And nothing stinted or subtracted.

[tr. Arndt (1976)]

FAUST
So even hell has laws? Good; in that case
One might conclude a pact with you
Gentlemen, and a guaranteed one too?

MEPHISTOPHELES
Whatever is promised, you shall have your due,
There'll be no quibbling, no tergiversation.

[tr. Luke (1987)]

FAUST
So even in Hell there's law and order!
I'm glad, for then a man might sign
A contract with you gentlemen.

MEPHISTOPHELES
Whatever we promise, you get, full measure,
There's no cutting corners, no skulduggery.

[tr. Greenberg (1992)]

FAUST
So hell has its own laws and regulations too?
That's very good! So tell me --
I daresay it's possible to make a pact with you?

MEPHISTOPHOLES
Indeed; if you negotiate with us
, You'll find the offer tempting -- and we never cheat.

[tr. Williams (1999)]

 
Added on 4-Oct-22 | Last updated 4-Oct-22
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Some men rob you with a six-gun,
Some with a fountain pen.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (1912-1967) American singer-songwriter and musician
“Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw” (1961)
 
Added on 14-Oct-16 | Last updated 14-Oct-16
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Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) South African revolutionary, politician, statesman
Letter from prison to Zindzi Mandela, given in Soweto speech (10 Feb 1985)

On refusing to bargain for freedom after 21 years in prison. Quoted in Time (25 Feb 1985).
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 9-Jun-15
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