Where did Goethe say this quotation: "What am I? What have I done? All
that I have seen, heard, noted I have collected and used.  My works
are referenced by a thousand different individuals...Often I have
reaped the harvest that others have sown.  My work is that of a
collective being..."

Dear sylk,

This quote derives from a conversation Goethe had with a visitor, the
Swiss scientist Frédéric Soret (1795-1865) from Genève, on February
17, 1832 in Goethe's residence in Weimar.

Soret recorded his conversations with Goethe in French; after his
death in 1865, these chronicles have been found in Soret's bequest. It
has been "Frédéric Soret: Goethes Unterhaltungen mit Friedrich Soret"
("Goethe's conversations with Friedrich Soret), published by C.A.H.
Burkhardt, Weimar. Together with his diaries concerning his time with
Goethe and the letters he exchanged with the German writer, this
material has later been assembled, translated to German and commented
by Heinrich Hubert Houben in 1929 in the book "Frédéric Soret: Zehn
Jahre bei Goethe. Erinnerungen an Weimars klassische Zeit" ("Ten years
with Goethe. Memories of Weimars classical time"), poblished by

The original quotation as recorded by Soret was in French and read the
following:

"Que suis-je moi-même ? Qu'ai-je fait ? J'ai recueilli, utilisé tout
ce que j'ai entendu, observé. Mes oeuvres sont nourries par des
milliers d'individus divers, des ignorants et des sages, des gens
d'esprit et des sots. L'enfance, l'âge mûr, la vieillesse, tous sont
venus m'offrir leurs pensées, leurs facultés, leur manière d'être ;
j'ai recueilli souvent la moisson que d'autres avaient semée. Mon
oeuvre est celle d'un être collectif et elle porte le nom de Goethe."

In the German translation, the same quote is:

"Was bin ich selbst? Und was habe ich getan? Ich habe all das
gesammelt, nutzbar gemacht, was ich vernommen und beobachtet habe.
Meine Werke sind genährt durch Tausende verschiedene Einzelwesen, von
Dummköpfen und von Weisen, von geistreichen Menschen und von Narren.
Die Kindheit, die Reifezeit und das Alter, sie alle haben mir ihre
Gedanken, ihre Fähigkeiten, ihre Seinsweise angeboten. Ich habe oft
die Ernte eingebracht, für die andere gesät hatten. Mein Werk ist das
eines Kollektivwesens, und es trägt den Namen Goethe."

Neither the 1905 "Goethes Unterhaltungen mit Friedrich Soret" nor
"Zehn Jahre bei Goethe" are, alas, currently in print. The 1929
edition of Houben's work is antiquarian, but it is not impossible to
find, as a quick search at abebook.com has revealed. However, I was
not able to locate a copy of the also out-of-print 1991 edition
(publisher: Olms Verlag, Hildesheim).

Sources:

Académie de Nice: Faust, dernier génie universel?, by Professor
Fabrice Malkani, Université Lumière, Lyon. (in Google Cache)
://www.google.de/search?q=cache:WYfvPdDBwosC:www.ac-nice.fr/allemand/docs/Faustderniergenieuniversel.doc+goethe+soret+%22que+suis+je%22&hl=de&ie=UTF-8

BR-Alpha: Alpha-Forum extra - Goethe, der Naturforscher. By
Bayerischer Rundfunk broadcasting, 1999
http://www.br-online.de/alpha/forum/vor9908/19990827_i.html

Goethe-Institut - Goethejahr: Goethe - ein letztes Universalgenie? By
the Goethe-Institut, 1999
http://www.goethe.de/z/10/goethe99/29.htm

Goethe-Gymnasium Ibbenbüren: Goethes Naturauffassung, by Klaus M.
Meyer–Abich, 1999
http://www.ibb-voba.de/goethe/forum/meyer_abich.htm

Biblint.de: Bibliographie zu Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Ausgaben,
Materialien, Bibliographien, by Michael Mandelartz, 2001
http://www.biblint.de/goethe_bibliographie.html

Abebooks.com - used, secondhand, rare, out-of-print
http://www.abebooks.com/

Amazon.de: Detailseite: Zehn Jahre bei Goethe.
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3487094428/qid=1029190672/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_16_1/028-2964308-5974129

Search terms used:
"que suis je" goethe:
://www.google.de/search?q=%22que+suis+je%22+goethe&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=
"Frédéric Soret" goethe 1832:
://www.google.de/search?q=%22Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric+Soret%22+goethe+1832&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=10&sa=N
soret goethe weimar 1832:
://www.google.de/search?q=soret+goethe+weimar+1832&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=20&sa=N

Hope this is what you were looking for!
Regards,
Scriptor

---

Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 13 Aug 2002 13:08 PDT

Dear sylk,

I was not able to browse one of these books myself so far. But I will
keep on trying. In the meantime, would it help you if I told you that
the book is available in the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington
Square South, New York, NY 10012, Phone (212) 998-2505?

Here is the online catalog entry for "Zehn Jahre bei Goethe", 1929
edition, published by F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig:

Author: Soret, Frédéric Jacob, 1795-1865. 
Title: Zehn jahre bei Goethe; Erinnerungen an Weimars klassische Zeit,
1822-1832.
Publisher: Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1929. 
Description: 799 p. front., plates, ports., facsims. (1 fold.) 21 cm.
Subjects: Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832--Biography--Old age.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832--Friends and associates. 
Weimar--Intellectual life.  
Other Authors: Houben, H. H. (Heinrich Hubert), 1875-1935 

HOLDINGS  

Location: NYU Bobst 
Call number: PT2069 .S6 

  Detailed holdings- 
Status: Available

New York Libraries Online Catalog Search:
http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu/

I really hope this provides some help, should I not be able to find a
physical copy of the book myself.

Best regards,
Scriptor

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sylk-ga on 13 Aug 2002 13:32 PDT

Dear Scriptor,
     I was able to find a copy of the Houben book at the Hunter
College library and was able to obtain the exact page numbers  (pp.
628-633 for entire conversation of February 17, 1832 --actual quote on
page 630.) I have been looking for this quotation for over two weeks
now.  I cannot thank you enough for your expert, scholarly and most
prompt response. Your help was absolutely essential for this project,
and your work helped me make a publication deadline.  Again, thank you
so much.
Best,
Sylvia Karasu, M.D. (New York City)

---

Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 13 Aug 2002 13:40 PDT

Dear Ms. Karasu,

I am happy I was able to help you and I wish you good luck with your further work.

Best regards,
Scriptor

Absolutely the most scholarly answer I could have imagined.  I found
the German source and verified exactly what Scriptor had found!  I
would rate this phD- quality researh and would give a  five star
rating--

Dr. Karasu:
Scriptor:

I have been following the facinating answer process for this question
with great delight....Cooperation from the customer, dogged
determination from the researcher, solid comments in the back room
forum for the researchers, and a satisfactory conclusion...GA provides
the tools and the process works...IMHO...

seedy

Hi seedy!
  I agree--couldn't be better!  Thanks.  Sylvia Karasu, M.D.

Hello Sylk-ga,

Although I answered this question originally, it was rejected by
Google editors who did not have the opportunity to check the cited
biography and apparently had to rely on Internet sources.  No big
deal, but with your publishing deadline I should hope that you wish to
consider the original Goethe statement rather than the "hearsay" of
Soret's memories and notes which have become popular.
The well-known biographer, Emil Ludwig, as I had mentioned, wrote
"Goethe: The History of a Man",G.P. Putnams's Sons, 1928.  As I
mentioned in the original answer, this book is available in paperback
on www.amazon.com for $4.95.
On page 637 of that 1928 book (which is in my personal library) he
writes "And when, a few weeks before the end, the talk turned upon his
influence, he thus summed himself up:"  At this point Ludwig cites the
exact words of Goethe as I previously place in my original answer...

"What if I wish to be honest, did I possess that which was really my
own, beyond capacity and inclination to see and hear . . . and render
with some skill? I owe my achievements . . . to thousands of things
and persons outside myself, which constituted my material. Fools and
sages, clear-brained men and narrow-minded men, children and young
people, to say nothing of ripe seniors -- they all came to me, all
told me how things struck them . . . and all I had to do was to catch
hold of it, and reap what others had sown for me. . . . The main thing
is to have a great desire, and skill and perseverance to accomplish
it. . . . Mirabeau was quite right to make as much use as he could of
other people and their capabilities . . . my work is that of a
composite being, and happens to be signed -- GOETHE."
This is Goethe talking.  Soret's recollection is but a corruption of
the original statement, and obviously the one most remembered. Can't
blame Soret as he quoted from memory.  I'd hate to hear his quote of
the Gettysburg Address after recalling and writing it down a few days
after the event.
Relying on the scholarship of a great 19th century biographer like
Ludwig who would certainly have had access to all the papers of Goethe
(as opposed to the private journals of the scientist, Soret), you
should seriously consider what you need for your document: the hearsay
of Soret or the above quote taken from Goethian papers by the
historian Ludwig.
 
Where else was Mirabeau(Pres of French Assembly ~1791 mentioned?

Page 461 of Ludwig's biography mentions: "...and above all Mirabeau,
whose mind was adored by Goethe's friends--and his busts as well"