Was die Fürsten geigen, müssen die Unterthanen tanzen—Subjects must dance as princes fiddle to them. Ger. Pr.
Was die heulende Tiefe da unten verhehle, / Das erzählt keine lebende glückliche Seele—What the howling deep down there conceals, no blessed living soul can tell. Schiller.
Was die innere Stimme spricht / Das läuschet 10 die hoffende Seele nicht—By what the inner voice speaks the trusting soul is never deceived. Schiller.
Was die Natur versteckt, zieht Unsinn an das Licht—What Nature hides from our gaze, want of sense and feeling drags to the light. Lessing.
Was die Sage erzählt / Mit Geschichte vermählt, / Mit Phantasie im Verein, / Das lass dir willkommen sein—Let what legend relates, wedded to history and in union with fantasy, be welcome to thee. (?)
Was du besitzest, kann ein Raub des Schicksals sein; / Was du besassest, bleibt für alle Zeiten dein—What you possess is at the mercy of fortune; what you possessed remains your own for ever. Lorm.
Was du denkest, sei wahr; und wie du denkest, so rede! / Wolle das Gute, so folgt Segen und Freude der That—Be what thou thinkest true; and as thou thinkest, so speak. Will what is good; then will follow blessing and joy from the deed. C. L. Fernow.
Was du ererbt von deinen Vätern hast, / 15 Erwirb es, um es zu besitzen. / Was man nicht nützt, ist eine schwere Last; / Nur was der Augenblick erschafft, das kann er nützen—What thou hast inherited from thy sires, acquire so as to posses it as thy own. What we use not is a heavy burden; only what the moment produces can the moment profit by. Goethe.
Was einmal sein muss, wird nie zu früh gethan—What must be can never be too quickly done. Rückert.
Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? / Was ever woman in this humour won? Rich. III., i. 2.