Section 161. OPINIONS AS TO ENGLISH EDUCATION. II.
Reading edition
Goethe (S. 5, N. 2), in one of his conversations with Eckermann at Weimar, once[1] observed: “It is very[2] strange, and I know not whether[3] it lies in race, in climate, in[4] soil, or in their healthy[5] education, but[6] certainly Englishmen seem to have a great advantage over most other men. We see here in Weimar only a[7] minimum of them, and[8] those, probably, by no means the best specimens, and yet what splendid fellows they are! And although they come here as seventeen-year-old[9] youths, yet they by no means feel strange in this strange land; on the contrary, their entrance[10] and bearing[11] in society is so confident[12] and quiet, that one would[13] think they were everywhere the masters, and the whole world belonged to them[14].”
“I should not like to affirm, for all that[15],” replied Eckermann[16], “that the English gentlemen in Weimar are cleverer, better educated, and better hearted than our young men.”
“That is not the point[17],” said Goethe; “their superiority does not lie in such things; neither[18] does it lie in their birth and fortune[19]; it lies precisely[20] in their having[21] the courage to be what nature made them. There[22] is no halfness about[23] them. They are complete[24] men. Sometimes complete fools also, that I heartily[25] admit, but even that is something, and has its weight.”
Thus (App. § 14), in[26] Goethe’s eyes, the Englishmen fulfilled, to a great extent, the injunction[27] given by Lessing[28] to those who would be men:
“Think wrongly, if you please, but think for yourselves!”—S. Smiles, “Self-Help.”