Well, that’s Philosophy I’ve read, / And Law and Medicine, and I fear / Theology, too, from A to Z; / Hard studies all, that have cost me dear. / And so I sit, poor silly man / No wiser now than when I began.
[Habe nun, ach! Philosophie, / Juristerey und Medicin, / Und leider auch Theologie! / Durchaus studirt, mit heißem Bemühn. / Da steh’ ich nun, ich armer Thor! / Und bin so klug als wie zuvor…]
–– the scholar Faust, speaking in Goethe’s play by that name (lines 354–59), and sounding rather like a Core student growing impatient for the start of the spring break recess. Translation by David Luke.
