What was the original German wording of Felix Mendelssohn's remark that music is "too precise" for words?

Answer 1

"Es wird so viel über Musik gesprochen, und so wenig gesagt. Ich glaube überhaupt, die Worte reichen nicht hin dazu"

("Music is talked about so much, and yet so little is said. I actually believe words don't suffice for doing so.")

Answer 2

In Koine Greek, there is no indefinite article ("a"); in the absence of a definite article ("the") an indefinite article is often rightly assumed, but while there is no definite article in front of "God" in John 1:1, we shouldn't assume an indefinite article. The text reads literally: "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος." In beginning was the word and the word was with the God, and God was the word. John has done a good job of constructing this sentence so that he both declares Christ to be God while also affirming that Christ and the Father are not the same person. Had he said that the word was THE God, with a definite article, he would have called Jesus and the Father completely the same, which we know is not the case. But if they aren't the same, why not call "the word" (Jesus) another god? Look at the second clause specifically (καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. - and God was the word.) Note that John has put God, not the word, at the beginning of the clause. This is how a speaker of Koine added emphasis to a word, as if to underline it. So John is emphasizing Jesus' Godhood while still separating his personhood from the father, not creating a polytheistic plurality of Gods. Had he switched the order and put "a god" at the end of the clause, then the indefinite article assumption might have been a little more reasonable. The context of the whole of scripture should be an adequate guide to answer the question however, as there is only one God, and there could be no legitimate "a god." The NWT also makes many obvious interpretive errors and should not be trusted in general. For example, it erroneously inserts Jehovah every time the Greek clearly says "lord." This demonstrates the obvious biases of the translators in favor of a certain theological view.

Answer 3

das goot!