# Sayings for Teaching at the Waldorf School

> Educating youth  
> Means today is tomorrow  
> Means spirit in matter  
> Means in earthly life  
> Cultivating the spirit.
> 1920

My thoughts fly to school  
There my body is formed  
For right activity  
There my soul is educated  
For right vitality  
There my spirit is awakened  
To true humanity.

July 1920

*Morning verse for the four lower classes*

Dear light of the sun,  
It brightens my day;  
The power of the soul,  
It gives strength to the limbs;

In the radiance of the sun's light  
I worship, O God  
The human power that you  
Have so kindly planted  
In my soul,  
So that I can be industrious  
And eager to learn.

From you comes light and strength,  
To you flow love and thanks.

September 1919

*Morning verse for the upper classes*

I look into the world,  
In which the sun shines,  
In which the stars sparkle;  
In which the stones lie,  
The plants grow alive,  
The animals live with feeling,  
In which man is animated,  
Gives dwelling to the spirit;  
I look into the soul,  
Which lives within me.

The spirit of God weaves  
In the light of the sun and the soul  
In the space of the world, out there  
In the depths of the soul, inside. —

To you, O Spirit of God  
I turn in supplication,  
That strength and blessing may grow  
Within me for learning and working.  
—

September 1919

The sun shines brightly on the beings of the earth,  
The spirit sun shines upon human souls,  
Earth beings hunger for the light of the sun,  
Human souls thirst for the spirit sun,  
And the light of the sun nourishes earth beings,  
And the spirit sun quenches human souls.

Draft of a first verse for classical language teaching, unfinished,  
June 1922

Whoever understands the meaning of language,  
The world reveals itself  
In images;

Whoever hears the soul of language,  
The world opens up  
As a being;

Whoever experiences the spirit of language,  
The world gifts them  
With the power of wisdom;

Whoever can love language,  
It grants them  
Its own power.

So I will turn my heart and mind  
Towards the spirit and soul  
Of the word;

And in my love  
For it, I will  
First feel myself completely.

Introductory verse for Greek and Latin lessons at the Free Waldorf School,  
November 1922

The roots germinate in the earth at night  
The leaves sprout through the power of the air  
The fruits ripen through the power of the sun

So the soul germinates in the shrine of the heart  
So the human spirit sprouts in the light of the world  
So the human power ripens in God's light

And roots and leaves and the blessing of fruits  
They sustain the earthly life of man  
And soul and spirit and power move  
They may rise up to God in thanksgiving.

Amen.

For the teachers of free Christian religious education  
Christmas 1922

In the bright sunlight,  
Which brings the power of the earth;  
In the green plant life,  
Which springs from the depths,  
And also in the vastness of the worlds,  
Which give shelter to the stars,  
And in the human eye,  
Where the powers of the senses weave:  
There I sense God's power,  
Which appears to me in spirit,  
With which in the depths of my soul  
My whole being unites;  
That I myself may become spirit  
As a human being in the substance of the earth.

At the beginning of the hours of free religious education at the Waldorf School,  
1923

*For the students of the 12th grade on their graduation*

In the vastness of life's paths  
May be reflected  
What in the beloved home of youth  
Like a seal  
Of genuine humanity  
Has been imprinted  
On the heart.

In the depths of memory  
May prove strong  
What the soul was allowed to find  
In circles of the heart  
Through spiritual guidance,  
In the powers  
Of dear life training.

April 1924