German composition

Section 11 Concentration of Powers

The weakest living creature⁠1, by⁠2 concentrating his powers on a single object, can⁠3 accomplish something. The strongest⁠4, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything⁠5. The drop, by continually⁠6 falling⁠7, bores⁠8 its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty⁠9 torrent rushes⁠10 over it with hideous uproar, and leaves no trace behind.—T. Carlyle.

Notes

1 creature, Wesen, n.; strengthen the superlative of the adjective by placing ‘aller’ before it, forming one compound expression, analogous to: Die aller schönste Blume, the finest flower (of all).

2 ‘by concentrating his powers’, durch Konzentration seiner Kräfte; to accomplish something, etwas zustande bringen. Use the adverbial expression ‘at least’ before ‘something’, which will give more force to the German rendering.

3 The copula ‘can’ must be placed immediately after the subject and its attributes, as has been pointed out in S. 5, N. 2.

4 The strongest — fail, Dem Stärksten hingegen wird es durch Zersplitterung seiner Kräfte nicht gelingen.

5 anything, auch nur das Geringste.

6 continual, unablässig, adj.

7 To render ‘falling’, form a noun of the verb ‘fallen’. The German language makes frequent use of the Infinitive Present of verbs to form abstract nouns, whilst the English language uses the Verbal in -ing for that purpose. Such nouns are always of the neuter gender; as das Gehen, going; das Essen und Trinken, eating and drinking.

8 to bore one’s passage, sich einen Weg bohren. Place the verb according to S. 5, N. 2; the adverbial clause ‘by continually falling’ must follow it.

9 hasty, ungestüm; torrent, Strom, m.

10 to rush over something, über etwas hinweg´stürzen; ‘rushes — uproar’, say ‘rushes with hideous (entsetzlich) uproar (Getöse) over the same.’