14) ... Wie nur dem Kopf nicht alle Hoffnung schwindet ...

FAUST:   FAUST. Wie nur dem Kopf nicht alle Hoffnung schwindet, Der immerfort an schalem Zeuge klebt, Mit gier'ger Hand nach Schätzen gräbt, Und froh ist, wenn er Regenwürmer findet! How strange a man's not quitted of all hope, Who on and on to shallow stuff adheres, Whose greedy hands for hidden treasure grope, And who is glad when any worm appears!

These four verses are a real hammer. How stupid must one be to spend all one's life with questions that only are interesting for those that are paid to be interested in it, to spend one's life with totally sterile issues? If two cold bones could talk to each other, it would be the same like to two professors of literature that talk to each other. But these guys earn our thanks as well, because they complain about the fact that universities are short of money. And only in these situations lectures of these people have real fire and passion. Then they complain about the lacking culture in this society and ask for more money that they can continue with their work as vigorous and interesting as it was before. What hyprocricy and how boring must one be to not see that this academic aparatus has lost its contact to the real world. How little sensibility must one have to not see that real people of flesh and bone and heart are not interested in the trunks of wood that they produce?