of course, the immortality that goethe talks about has nothing in common with religious faith in an immortal soul. what is involved is the different, quite earthly immortality of those who after their death remain in the memory of posterity. everyone can achieve immortality to a smaller or greater degree, of shorter or longer duration, and this idea already starts occupying people's minds in early youth....



naturally, when it comes to immortality people are not created equal. we have to distinguish between so-called minor immortality, the memory of a person in the minds of those who knew him, and great immortality, which means the memory of a person in the minds of people who never kenw him personally. there are certain paths in life that from the very beginning place a person face-to-face with such great immortality, uncertain, it is true, even improbable, yet undeniably possible: they are the paths of artist and statesmen.

-immortality, milan kundera-