L'Engle, Madeleine -- Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Dave — Wed, 27 May 2026 07:07:18 +0000

So let us look for beauty and grace, for love and friendship, for that which is creative and birth-giving and soul-stretching. Let us dare to laugh at ourselves, healthy, affirmative laughter. Only when we take ourselves lightly can we take ourselves seriously, so that we are given the courage to say, “Yes! I dare disturb the universe.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
(Source)

Goethe, Johann von -- Sprüche in Prosa: Maximen und Reflexionen [Proverbs in Prose: Maxims and Reflections] (1833) [tr. Saunders (1893), “Literature and Art,” #500]

Dave — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:19:02 +0000

Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than lower ones quite attained.

[Die höheren Forderungen sind an sich schon schikbarer, auch unerfüllt, als niedrige, ganz erfüllte.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Sprüche in Prosa: Maximen und Reflexionen [Proverbs in Prose: Maxims and Reflections] (1833) [tr. Saunders (1893), “Literature and Art,” #500]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

Aims of a higher order, even though they be not fulfilled, are in themselves more valuable than lower ones entirely fulfilled.
[tr. Rönnfeldt (1900)]

Higher demands, even unfulfilled, are in themselves more worthy of esteem than lower demands completely fulfilled.
[tr. Stopp (1995), "Posthumous," #1085]

WIST Quotations

L'Engle, Madeleine -- Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Goethe, Johann von -- Sprüche in Prosa: Maximen und Reflexionen [Proverbs in Prose: Maxims and Reflections] (1833) [tr. Saunders (1893), “Literature and Art,” #500]