from Goethe's Faust, Part 1

"My friend, for us the alluring times of old 
Are like a book that’s sealed-up sevenfold. 
And what you call the Spirit of the Ages 
Is but the spirit of your learned sages, 
Whose mirror is a pitiful affair, 
Shunned by mankind after a single stare, 
A mouldy dustbin, or a lumber attic, 
Or at the most a blood-and-thunder play 
Stuffed full of wit sententious and pragmatic, 
Fit for the sawdust puppetry to say...
To understand -- and how is that defined?
Who dares to give that child its proper name?
The few of understanding, vision rare,
Who veiled not from the herd their hearts, but tried,
Poor generous fools, to lay their feelings bare,
Them have men always burnt and crucified." 
- from Goethe's Faust, Part 1 


(Let's give translator, Phillip Wayne, the lion's share of credit 
for making this sound so good in English.)