The Reading Room

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Bookworm

04:37

Q: Source of aphorism "To do many things is to do nothing well"

At some point in my life I heard the saying "To do many things is to do nothing well." I thought that it was an Ancient Greek aphorism, but searching for its source, I can't find it at all. Did my brain pull this quote out of thin air?

quote-source

7 hours later…

Bookworm

11:20

Q: does anybody know how to find the versions of translations of poetry that are considered most definitive?

does anybody know how to find the versions of translations of poetry that are considered most definitive, or have great acclaims over their accuracy and literary merits? i am trying to find good english translations of goethe's poems (his individual / miscellaneous lieder). are there freely share...

translation german-language johann-wolfgang-von-goethe

2 hours later…

Rand al'Thor

13:23

@Bookworm I think this is too broad as-is, and have commented to suggest the OP edit it to ask about just English translations of Goethe's poems.

Tsundoku

@Randal'Thor Yes, but isn't this essentially a recommendation request?

Rand al'Thor

@Tsundoku I think it's non-open-ended enough to work reasonably well, if it's just about Goethe's poetry. It's not like "among all of literature ever, what stories have XYZ features".

A: A Question about ‘List Questions’

I voted to close the question that prompted this meta question, but agree that Spagirl raises a valid point. I think that we need to clarify our guidance to askers about list-based, recommendation-based, and opinion-based questions. To begin with, when we say "list-based questions," we are actual...

1 hour later…

Bookworm

14:41

Q: Poem about a cherry pie being saved, betrayed, and eaten

I once read (in a collection/anthology of children's literature?) a poem about a cherry pie. The title might have been just "Cherry Pie", but it wasn't this or this or this or this (you can see a web search has been no help). It was quite short, probably fitting on one page when printed, but seve...

identification-request poetry

1 hour later…

Bookworm

16:10

Q: In which letter did Rilke mention this quote about his sleep behavior?

I remember very vividly this quote of Rilke about his sleep behavior mentioned in one of his letters (quoted from memory): 12 oder 18 Stunden - mag er nehmen was er will! ("er" refers to "Schlaf") meaning that he does not over-regulate his sleep behavior and let the sleep take what it needs - l...