An inspiring idea from von Goethe

All forces strive forward to work far and wide,

To live and grow and ever expand;

Yet we are checked and thwarted on each side

By the world’s flux and swept along like sand.

In this internal storm and outward tide

We hear a promise hard to understand,

From the compulsion that all creatures binds:

Who overcomes himself his freedom finds.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe