Tell me you stones, O speak, you towering palaces! Streets, say a word! Spirit of this place, are you dumb? All things are alive in your sacred walls Eternal Rome, it's only for me all is still.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker cries out to stones, palaces, and streets, asking if they are alive, feeling Rome's sacred silence.
- In plain terms
- He asks if the city itself is alive.
- What can you take from it?
- Listen to the silent stories of places.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does a place 'feel' like to you?
- How does history shape your perception?
Another view
Inanimate objects cannot truly respond.
More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others.
Permalink to quote #44 I'm gazing at church and palace, ruin and column, Like a serious man making sensible use of a journey, But soon it will happen, and all will be one vast temple…
Permalink to quote #46 Pleasure and love are the pinions of great deeds.
Permalink to quote #43
Related quotes
'You see, when you're middle class, you have to live with the fact that history will ignore you. You have to live with the fact that history can never champion…
Douglas CouplandDouglas Coupland quote #1 If I announce the armistice and the Americans don't send sufficient reinforcements and don't land near Rome, the Germans will seize the city and put in a puppe…
Pietro BadoglioPietro Badoglio quote #1 'Det finns ingenting som inte hant, men mycket som inte berattats.'
Fritiof Nilsson PiratenFritiof Nilsson Piraten quote #2