Gotthold Ephraim LessingГотхольд Эфраим Лессинг

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Briefe, die neueste Litteratur betreffend, part III (1759), Letter 49 (on the Nordischer Aufseher), Lessing, Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann-Muncker, vol. VIII (1892), p. 130.

Lessing, answering the Nordischer Aufseher's claim that no one who is not a Christian can be an honest man: religion has far higher aims than to form the upright man; it presupposes him, and its chief purpose is to raise the upright man to higher insights. Tolstoy's unfinished popular version of the Circle (Jubilee vol. 42) gives this closely, signed «Лессинг», and led to the source. In the Circle he signs it "after Lessing" and changes it: the work of faith is "not only" to make a man good, and the good man's faith lifts him to a height "from which all is easy and joyful for him", where Lessing has "higher insights". The "?" after "rechtſchafnen" is the scan's reading of the editor's note mark; his apparatus records "rechtschaffenen" in another 1759 printing. No public-domain English of the letter was found.

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts (1780), § 90, § 90; Lessing, Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann-Muncker, vol. XIII (1897), p. 434; Robertson, § 90.

The first three sentences of § 90 after its opening clause, closely. Lessing's "Schwärmer" (enthusiast) is Tolstoy's «мечтатель» (dreamer); "he wishes this future hastened, and wishes it hastened through him" becomes "he wants to bring it nearer by his own efforts"; what nature takes millennia for "is to ripen in the moment of his existence" becomes "he wants to see completed in his lifetime". Tolstoy leaves out the rest of the section (what is it to him if the better does not become the better in his lifetime; does he come back?). His unfinished popular version of the Circle (Jubilee vol. 42, 17 January) has the second sentence nearer the German: «Он хочет, чтобы будущее тотчас же наступило будучи ускорено им». The English is from the 1883 printing of Robertson's translation (first published 1858), in which the scan reads the long s as f.

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Eine Duplik (1778), § I, Lessing, Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann-Muncker, vol. XIII (1897), pp. 23-24; Sime, Lessing, vol. II, p. 206.

The first sentence of the well-known passage, closely: not the truth a man possesses, or thinks he possesses, but the sincere effort he has made to get at the truth makes the worth of the man. Tolstoy drops "or thinks he possesses" and "sincere", and "to get behind the truth" becomes "to acquire it"; he prints the sentence in italics. He stops before the reasons (a man's powers grow through the search, possession makes him idle and proud) and the choice between God's right hand and left. The English is Sime's, quoted in his Lessing (1877; second edition 1879, saved).

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Daß mehr als fünf Sinne für den Menschen sein können (fragment, c. 1780; first printed in Karl Lessing, Lessings Leben, 1795), Lessings sämmtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann and Maltzahn, vol. XI.2 (Leipzig, 1857), the note on the last page of the manuscript fragment.

The first sentence is Lessing's, closely: the first and oldest opinion in speculative matters is always the most probable, because sound common sense hit on it at once. Changed in its application: Lessing says it of his own system, the pre-existence and transmigration of souls («das System von der Seelenpräexistenz und Metempsychose»), held by Pythagoras, Plato and the sages of the East. Tolstoy's second sentence, «Таково существование всемирного начала — бога» (such is the existence of a universal principle, God), is his own and puts belief in God in place of metempsychosis. Tolstoy may have read the saying in «Избранные мысли Шиллера и Лессинга» (Posrednik, 1903) or Blumenau's Lessing-Perlen, both on the Jubilee list of his sources, neither found online. No public-domain English was found.

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Briefe (in Lessing's Schrifften, part II, 1753), the thirteenth letter, to Herr D**, Lessings sämmtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann, vol. III (Berlin, 1838), p. 302, the letter's opening.

The opening two sentences of the letter, closely: nature knows nothing of the hateful distinction men have set up among themselves; she deals out the qualities of the heart without preferring the noble and the rich, and natural feelings even seem stronger in common people than in others. Tolstoy's small changes: "qualities of the heart" becomes «душевными свойствами» (qualities of the soul); "natural feelings" becomes «Естественные добрые чувства» (natural good feelings); "stronger" (stärker) becomes «чаще встречаются» (are met more often). He stops before the apostrophe "Kind Nature!" Feuchtersleben's anthology prints the passage too. No public-domain English was found.

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Letter to his father, Johann Gottfried Lessing, Berlin, 30 May 1749, Lessings sämmtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann, vol. XII (Berlin, 1840), Briefe, p. 13.

The twenty-year-old Lessing to his father, the pastor at Kamenz, defending his faith: “So long as I do not see that one of the foremost commandments of Christianity, to love one's enemy, is better kept, so long I doubt whether those are Christians who give themselves out as such.” Tolstoy keeps it closely; “one of the foremost commandments of Christianity” (eins der vornehmsten Gebote des Christentums) becomes «важнейшее правило Христа» (Christ's most important rule), and “better kept” (nicht besser beobachtet) «соблюдалось» (kept). The sentence before it (Christianity is not a thing to be taken from one's parents on trust) is given for context. Tolstoy reprinted it in «На каждый день» (6 May, no. 8) and, reworded, in «Путь жизни» (the tolstoy block). The Jubilee list of sources names Blumenau's Lessing-Perlen and «Избранные мысли Шиллера и Лессинга» (Посредник, 1903), neither seen. No public-domain English of the letter was found.

A likely source, not certain. Minna von Barnhelm, oder das Soldatenglück (1767), Act II, scene 7, Minna's speech; Lessings sämmtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann, vol. I (Berlin, 1838); Bell's English, Act II, scene 7.

Probably a condensation of Minna's speech when she learns that Tellheim is found: “a single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer! … I am happy! and joyful! What can the Creator like better to see than a joyful creature!” (Ein einziger dankbarer Gedanke gen Himmel ist das vollkommenste Gebet! … Was kann der Schöpfer lieber sehen, als ein fröhliches Geschöpf!). Tolstoy's line, «Лучшее богопочитание есть благодарная радость» (the best worship of God is grateful joy), joins her two thoughts, gratitude as the best prayer and joy as what pleases God most, into one sentence; “prayer” (Gebet) becomes «богопочитание» (worship of God), and a character's exclamation becomes a maxim. Hence candidate: no Lessing text with Tolstoy's own wording was found, and the line may come through one of the two Lessing anthologies in the Jubilee list of the Circle's sources, Blumenau's Lessing-Perlen and Posrednik's «Избранные мысли Шиллера и Лессинга» (1903), neither found online. The Gutenberg German text reads “das willkommenste Gebet”; the 1838 Lachmann text and Bell's English have “the most perfect”.

Searched: Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), «На каждый день», and «Путь жизни» (Jubilee vols. 40, 43, 45); Lachmann's Lessing, vols. I, II, III, VIII, XI.2, XII, and XIII, Feuchtersleben's Lessing anthology (1866), and the Gutenberg German texts of the plays, essays, fables, and poems, for Gottesverehrung, Gottesdienst, Andacht, and dankbar near Freude; web searches for «dankbare Freude» with Lessing.

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Axiomata (1778), IX; first in the Gegensätze des Herausgebers (1777), Sämmtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann, vol. X (Berlin, 1839), p. 10 (Gegensätze, opening remarks) and p. 154 (Axiomata IX); Bernard, Letters on Bibliolatry (1862), Axiom IX, p. 45.

Lessing's antithesis with its subject changed. Lessing: “Die Religion ist nicht wahr, weil die Evangelisten und Apostel sie lehrten: sondern sie lehrten sie, weil sie wahr ist” (religion is not true because the Evangelists and Apostles taught it, but they taught it because it is true). Tolstoy: «Религия не потому истина, что ее проповедывали святые люди, а святые люди проповедывали ее потому, что она истина» (religion is not truth because holy men preached it, but holy men preached it because it is truth). “Die Evangelisten und Apostel” (the Evangelists and Apostles) becomes «святые люди» (holy men), so the Christian Scriptures' authors become the holy men of any faith, and “lehrten” (taught) becomes «проповедывали» (preached); the Circle prints the thought in italics. Lessing first wrote the sentence in the editor's opening remarks to the fragments of the Unnamed (1777), where it goes on that the written traditions must be explained from religion's inner truth and cannot give it an inner truth it lacks; he repeated it alone as the ninth of his Axiomata (1778), against Pastor Goeze (both in the original). Tolstoy printed it again, with «истинна» (true) for «истина», in «На каждый день» (1 January, no. 8) and «Путь жизни» (tolstoy). His listed sources for Lessing, Blumenau's Lessing-Perlen and Posrednik's «Избранные мысли Шиллера и Лессинга» (1903), were not found online. Bernard's English translates the Axiomata.

The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Letter to Karl Gotthelf Lessing, 2 February 1774, Sämmtliche Schriften, ed. Lachmann, vol. XII (Berlin, 1840), pp. 409–410; Sime, Lessing (1879), vol. II, pp. 191–192.

Lessing's sentences to his brother, closely: with orthodoxy, thank God, one had come to a tolerable settlement; a partition had been drawn between it and philosophy, behind which each could go its way without hindering the other; but what does one do now? One tears down the partition and, on the pretext of making us rational Christians, makes us most irrational philosophers. Tolstoy writes «церковностью» (churchliness) for “der Orthodoxie” (orthodoxy) and «были … установлены определенные отношения» (definite relations had been established) for “war man … ziemlich zu Rande” (one had come fairly to terms). The letter goes on to defend the old orthodox system against the new theology, which Lessing calls a patchwork of bunglers and half-philosophers. Tolstoy's listed Lessing anthologies, Blumenau's Lessing-Perlen and «Избранные мысли Шиллера и Лессинга» (Posrednik, 1903), were not consulted. Sime's English (in his account of the Wolfenbüttel Fragments) has “curtain” for “Scheidewand”; the scan's OCR reads “Philofo- phen”.