Heinrich Heine

We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged.

We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged.

When words leave off, music begins.

When words leave off, music begins.

The oaks with solemnity shook their heads;
The twigs of the birch-trees, in token
Of warning, nodded,--and read more

The oaks with solemnity shook their heads;
The twigs of the birch-trees, in token
Of warning, nodded,--and I exclaim'd:
"Dear Monarch, forgive what I've spoken!"

Glow-worms on the ground are moving,
As if in the torch-dance circling.

Glow-worms on the ground are moving,
As if in the torch-dance circling.

When I lately stood with a friend before [the cathedral of]
Amiens, . . . he asked me how read more

When I lately stood with a friend before [the cathedral of]
Amiens, . . . he asked me how it happens that we can no longer
build such piles? I replied: "Dear Alphonse, men in those days
had convictions (Ueberzeugungen), we moderns have opinions
(Meinungen) and it requires something more than an opinion to
build a Gothic cathedral.