Thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie its pleasure. To replace thought by reverie is to confound food with poison. Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverence. The work in process becomes the poet's fate and determines his psychic development. It is not Goethe who creates Faust , but Faust who creates Goethe.
Labor is the source of all wealth and all culture.
Dripping water hollows a stone. I have always tried to hide my efforts, and wished my works to have the light joyousness of Springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost. Art necessarily presupposes knowledge. Art is man's expression of his joy in labor. No one can arrive from being talented alone.