Mit Mädeln sich vertragen

Mit [Mädeln]1 sich vertragen,
Mit Männern 'rumgeschlagen,
Und mehr Credit als Geld;
So kommt man durch die Welt.

Mit vielem läßt sich schmausen;
Mit wenig läßt sich hausen;
Daß wenig vieles sey,
Schafft nur die Lust herbei.

Will sie sich nicht bequemen,
So müßt ihr's eben nehmen.
Will einer nicht vom Ort,
So jagt ihn g'rade fort.

Laßt alle nur mißgönnen,
Was sie nicht nehmen können,
Und seid von Herzen froh;
Das ist das A und O.

So fahret fort zu dichten,
Euch nach der Welt zu richten.
Bedenkt in Wohl und Weh
Dieß goldne A B C.

Translation(s): DUT ENG FRE ITA

List of language codes

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe lezter Hand, Zehnter Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 217-218; and with Goethe's Werke, Erster Band. Gedichte. Erster Theil, mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen von G. von Loeper, Zweite Ausgabe. Verlag von Gustav Hempel, Berlin, 1882, page 83 (Gesellige Lieder).

See also the text from the first version of Claudine von Villa Bella, which shares the first four lines.

¹ Schubert, Wolf: "Mädchen"

Submitted by Emily Ezust and Peter Rastl

Authorship

• by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title, written 1787, appears in Claudine von Villa Bella [ author's text verified 2 times]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Räuberlied", D. 239 no. 7 (1815), published 1893, first performed 1913, stanzas 1-2 [tenor, chorus and orchestra], from the operetta Claudine von Villa Bella, no. 7. [ sung text verified 1 time]
• by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Frech und froh I", published 1891 [voice and piano], from Goethe-Lieder, no. 16, Mainz, Schott [ sung text verified 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , title 1: "De meisjes laten lachen", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Malcolm Wren) , title 1: "Cheeky and cheerful", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , title 1: "S'entendre avec les filles", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , title 1: "Alle ragazze fare la corte", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project, and I have been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your gift is greatly appreciated.      - Emily Ezust

Cheeky and cheerful

Getting on with girls,
Kicking about with men,
Having more credit than cash:
That's how you get by in the world.

With a lot you can indulge yourself,
With a little you can live;
Making a little be a lot
Can create pleasure.

Even if you can't bring yourself to do it,
you just have to get on with it.
If somebody doesn't want to move,
just get him out of the way.

Let others begrudge
what they can't attain,
and be cheerful at heart;
that is the alpha and omega

So carry on as a poet
taking your bearings from the world.
Remember in joy and misery
this golden A B C.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

Authorship

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2006 by Malcolm Wren, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
  
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• a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title, written 1787, appears in Claudine von Villa Bella DUT FRE ITA
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Franz Peter Schubert, Hugo Wolf. Go to the text.

Text added to the website: 2006-03-01.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:17
Line count: 20
Word count: 113