“You must, in studying Nature, always consider both each single thing and the whole: nothing is inside and nothing is outside, for what is within is without. Make haste, then, to grasp this holy mystery which is public knowledge.Rejoice in the true illusion, in the serious game: no living thing is a unity, it is always manifold.”

German polymath

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German polymath, and one of the central figures of German literature. He is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. Goethe worked as a poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His writing ranged from plays, poetry, and aesthetic criticism to treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour, and his influence extended across literature, politics, Christian thought, and philosophy in the Western world from the late 18th century onward.