Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty

Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty (21 December 1748 – 1 September 1776) was a German poet, known especially for his ballads.

Quotes

Edited by Craufurd Tait Ramage. New Revised Edition. Liverpool: Edward Howell

Practise ever truth and uprightness till the cold grave, and deviate not a finger’s breadth from God’s ways! Then wilt thou, as on a green meadow, go through thy pilgrimage of life; then canst thou without fear and dread look death in the face.
Then will the sickle and the plough be light in thy hand; then canst thou sing over the water-jug, as if it were filled with wine. But to the scoundrel is everything full of trouble, do what he may: the devil drives him to and fro, leaving him no rest.
The beautiful spring smiles not for him, the fields of corn wave not with joy for him; he is a lover of lies and deceit, he cares for nothing but gold; the wind in the wood, the leaf on the tree, whisper horror to his heart; he finds no rest in the grave after life is over.
- Truth and Uprightness (Der alte Landmann)

Happy the man who has escaped from the town! Every whispering of the tree, every murmuring of the stream, every sparkling pebble, preaches to him virtue and wisdom.
Every shady grove is to him a holy temple, where his God waves nearer to him; every green sod an altar, where he kneels before the Lofty One.
- A Country Life (Das Landleben)

Who stops the flight of the hours? They rush on like the arrows of God! Every second stroke hurries us nearer to our deathbed, nearer to the iron sleep of death!
No spring blooms for thee, when thou art dead; no shadow is cast, no clanging of bowls, no pleasant smiles of maidens, no jests from the lips of friends!
As yet the black wings of death rustle not! Therefore seize pleasures, ere the storm carries them off, which God scatters like sunshine and rain from his urn!
- Time (Der rechte Gebrauch des Lebens)

Love makes the hovel to he a golden palace, scatters dancing and play over the wilderness, uncovers to us the light traces of the Divinity, gives us a foretaste of heaven!
- Love (Die Seligkeit der Liebenden)

Strew the way with roses, forgetting every ill! a short span of time is measured out to us. To-day the frolicsome boy joins the dance in the spring-time of life; to-morrow the chaplet of the dead waves over his grave.
To-day sees the young bride conducted with joy to the altar; before the evening’s dews are spread, she rests on her bier: give then grief and moping care to the wind that passes; beneath this beechen grove drain the jingling glasses.
- Enjoy the Present (Lebenspflichten)

Oh, wonderfully beautiful is God’s earth, and worthy of being delighted in! therefore shall I, till I am changed into ashes, rejoice in this beautiful earth!
- Beautiful is God's Earth (Aufmunterung zur Freude)