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Last words

The last words of Goethe usually abridged as Mehr Licht!, that is, "more light!", although the original claimed last words quote was longer.

The earliest known account was of Karl Wilhelm Müller's, which gives all of his last words: "Macht doch den zweiten Fensterladen in der Stube auch auf, damit mehr Licht hereinkomme." ("Open the second shutter in the living room so that more light comes in.")

According to his doctor Carl Vogel, his last words were, Mehr Licht! (More light!), but this is disputed as Vogel was not in the room at the moment Goethe died, something he himself says in his account: " "More light" is said to have been the last words of the man, who always hated darkness in every respect, as I had left the dying room for a moment. "

Thomas Carlyle, in his letter to John Carlyle (2 July 1832) records that he had learned the version Macht die Fensterladen auf, damit ich mehr Licht bekomme! ("Open the shutters so I can get more light!") from Sarah Austin: " Mrs. Austin wrote lately that Goethe's last words were, Macht die Fensterladen auf, damit ich mehr Licht bekomme! Glorious man! Happy man! I never think of him but with reverence and pride. " John Ruskin, in his Præterita, narrates a memory of him from his diary record of 25 October 1874 that Carlyle " had been quoting the last words of Goethe, 'Open the window, let us have more light' (this about an hour before painless death, his eyes failing him)."

Even though the context was different, these words, especially the abridged version, which turned into a dictum, usually used as a mean to illustrate the pro-Enlightenment worldview of Goethe.