A depiction of Faust in his study, by Georg Kersting (1829), a depiction of the so-called Faustian mind, an unsated desire to find truth. (Ѻ)

“I, too, have long investigated, have gone through all arts and sciences. I became a theologian, consulted authorities, weighed all, tested all,—polemics, exegesis, dogmatism. All was babble: nothing breathed of divinity! I became a jurist, endeavored to become acquainted with justice, and learned how to distort justice. I found an idol, shaped by the hands of self-interest and self-conceit, a bastard of justice, not herself. I became a physician, intending to learn the human structure, and the methods of supporting it when it gives way; but I found not what I sought, — I only found the art of methodically murdering men. I became a philosopher, desiring to know the soul of man, to catch truth by the wings and wisdom by the forelock; and I found shadows, vapors, follies, bound into a system!”

— Faust (c.1770), Augsburg puppet-play version [2]

At last so far in learning I have gone,
That I’m the laughing-stock of ev’ry one;
All books, from first to last, I have turn’d over,
The stone of wisdom I cannot discover.

Med’cine and jurisprudence come to nought,
In magic some assistance must be sought;
My studies in theology were vain,
My sleepless nights yet unrepaid remain.

Not one whole garment have I left to wear,
My load of debts is more than I can bear’
To pow’rs infernal I myself will bind,
That nature’s deepest secrets I may find.

— Faust (1846), "Opening soliloquy", Simrock’s version [9]

“With all my learning, I, Johannes Faust, have accomplished just so much, that I must blush with self-shame. I am ridiculed everywhere, no one reads my books, all despise me. How fain am I to become more perfect! Therefore I am rigidly resolved to instruct myself in necromancy.”

— Faust (c.1805), performance by Schutz [2]

“I seek for learning in this book and cannot find it. Though I study all books from end to end, I cannot discover the touchstone of wisdom. O, how unfortunate art thou, Faust! The sleepless nights I have spent in fathoming the mysteries of theology! But, no! By heaven, I will no longer delay, I will take upon myself all labor, so that I may penetrate into that which is concealed, and fathom the mysteries of nature!”

— Faust (date), Geisselbrecht’s puppet-play [2]

Goethe learned the story of Faust through the puppet theater; by 6½ was arranging and conducting plays on the miniature stage.

“The puppet-play echoed and vibrated in many tones through my mind. I, also, had gone from one branch of knowledge to another, and was early enough convinced of the vanity of all. I had tried life in many forms, and the experience had left me only the more unsatisfied and worried. I now carried these thoughts about with me, and indulged myself in them, in lonely hours, but without committing anything to writing. Most of all, I concealed from Herder my mystic-cabalistic chemistry, and everything connected with it.”

— Johann Goethe (1770), reflection on intercourse with Johann Herder, in Strasburg [7]

“To grant me a vision of nature's forces that bind the world, all its seeds and sources and innermost life ... all this I shall see... and stop peddling in words that mean nothing to me.”

“The Pareto-optimum closed the scientific gap to marginal benefit (= statistical social science / 2 research articles send to you via e-mail); while working on the political economics of American Independence, I could apply his theory of elite circulation = history as cemetery of elites. Also of methodical interest is his dynamic view of speculation/speculators as drivers of socio-economic change, i.e. of 'Faustian' insight into our current monetary transition period.”