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For, he reasons pointedly
That which must not, can not be.

— Christian Morgenstern

Weil, so schließt er messerscharf
Nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf.

Original text (German)

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Notes from Wikiquote

„Die unmögliche Tatsache” “The Impossible Fact” (1910)

More quotes by Christian Morgenstern

Enthusiasm is the most beautiful word in the world.

aphorism (1907)

Humor is the contemplation of the finite from the point of view of the infinite.

The Hidden Souls of Words (2004)

All Servants
Across the heavens that surround this sphere, I write:
It is not the tyrant who is a shameful man,
but the servant of the tyrant.

None of you knows what creativity means. To paint a picture, to write a poem? No! To recast one’s whole age, to impose upon it the stamp of one’s will, to fill it with beauty, to overwhelm it, to overpower it with one’s spirit.

Zarathustra’s Children (2000)

All Christian Morgenstern quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Christian Morgenstern (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.