Excerpt from Conversations With Eckermann: Being Appreciations and Criticisms on Many Subjects HE author of The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table has T told us there are two ways in which a man may dare to be himself: prayer and song. And we may add, there are two ways in which a man may be entrapped into being himself. One is by letters, the other by interviews. Happy is the entrapper, and also deserving of our gratitude. We will erect monuments to the humble Boswell and to Eckermann. Priceless is the book. We have not merely a dozen or more private interviews with Goethe, even he, the Olym pian, but we have almost daily interviews for a period of ten years. Would the reader like to know Goethe really and truly and intimately, instead of knowing something about him and something round about him? Then, assuredly, go to Eckermann. There are masterpieces and something still better, the head and heart of the master. There are clas sics of official philosophy and there are classics of secret counsel and intimate and infinite wisdom. We often prefer the latter, and of the latter, some are worldly like Chester field, some are eternal like Goethe, and I would say to the American, Brother, give Chesterfield to our sons. Let us have a few gentlemen in the new world. Brother, give Goethe's Conversations to our sons; let us have a few gods in the new world. The work goes on like a diary. Sat, Oct. 25, 1823. At twilight I passed half an hour at Goethe's. I found him in a singularly gentle mood, as one who is quite filled with a celestial peace, or who is recalling a delicious happi ness which he has enjoyed, and which again oats before his soul in all its fulness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

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