Mephistopheles Quotes

• I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Omniscient, Knows

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, David Luke (1998). “Faust”, p.49, Oxford University Press, USA

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• I am the spirit that negates. And rightly so, for all that comes to be Deserves to perish wretchedly; 'Twere better nothing would begin. Thus everything that that your terms, sin, Destruction, evil represent— That is my proper element.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Evil, Elements, Spirit

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1963). “Goethe's Faust: part one and sections from part two”, Anchor

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• I am part of the part that once was everything, Part of the darkness which gave birth to light… Mephistopheles, from Faust.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Light, Darkness, Birth

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• Faustus: Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good will my soul do thy lord? Mephistopheles: Enlarge his kingdom. Faustus: Is that the reason he tempts us thus? Mephistopheles: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris. (It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery)

  Christopher Marlowe

  Soul, Comfort, Kingdoms

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• Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place, for where we are is hell, And where hell is there must we ever be.

  Christopher Marlowe

  Self, Limits, Hell

  Christopher Marlowe (1826). “The works of Christopher Marlowe”, p.139

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• ... when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that are not heaven.

  Christopher Marlowe

  Heaven, World, Hell

  Doctor Faustus act 2, sc. 1 (1604)

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• Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistopheles!

  Christopher Marlowe

  Stars, Giving, Soul

  Christopher Marlowe, David M. Bevington, Eric Rasmussen (1998). “Doctor Faustus and Other Plays”, p.148, Oxford University Press, USA

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• Mephistopheles, the machine man, can provide us with all the means, and is thus likely to determine the aims of life as well. But of course the characteristic of Faust, which makes him eligible to be saved, is that he seeks aims that are not those of the machine.

  Joseph Campbell

  Inspirational, Mean, Men

  Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.24, Anchor

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• Heed not Mephistopheles, my children, lest you suffer eternal damnation. When he whispers in your ear, turn away your head and hearken instead to the angel on your shoulder.

  Harry Segall

  Children, Angel, Temptation

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• I let him run on, this papier-maché Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.

  Joseph Conrad

  Running, Littles, Dirt

  Joseph Conrad (2015). “Heart of Darkness”, p.44, eKitap Projesi

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• Hannibal at eighteen was rooting for Mephistopheles and contemptuous of Faust, but he only half-listened to the climax. He was watching and breathing Lady Murasaki...

  Thomas Harris

  Breathing, Half, Faust

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• At the risk of quoting Mephistopheles I repeat: Welcome to hell. A hell erected and maintained by human-governments, and blessed by black robed judges. A hell that allows you to see your loved ones, but not to touch them. A hell situated in America's boondocks, hundreds of miles away from most families. A white, rural hell, where most of the captives are black and urban. It is an American way of death.

  Mumia Abu-Jamal

  Blessed, Government, White

  FaceBook post by Mumia Abu Jamal from Sep 10, 2011

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