To quote from this website:
http://www.uh.edu/engines/faust.htm"...Faust didn't strike a bargain with the Devil. Instead, he made a bet. Faust bet that he could never be lured into settling down on any Earthly pleasure -- that his spirit would remain restless. The Devil agreed to the bet, and that's when Faust uttered those remarkable lines. He said,
When I say to the Moment flying:
'Linger a while -- thou art so fair!'
Then bind me in your bonds undying,
And my final ruin I will bear!
He tells Satan that he'll never settle down on any one good thing. He, Faust, will never be satisfied. The devil says, "Oh, yes, you will."
Faust's claim was a primary Romantic sentiment: Driving restlessness is the mainspring of the creative person. Faust snaps back at Satan, "When did the likes of you ever understand a human soul in its supreme endeavor?""
I find it fascinating that Faust accepts the pact only under one condition: if ever he says to a moment: "stay, thou art so sweet," the devil will have triumphed. Yet at the very end of Faust II, when Faust dies, he has still not uttered these words.
------------
As a writer, I would agree with the idea that life without an outlet for creativity is a living hell in itself.
As for what would be so beautiful as to make me utter those words, I will admit I've had many such moments in my life. Absent a bet with the Devil, I've had that freedom. I've lived at the top of a 10,500 foot mountain, I've worked in a hospital, I've been a law enforcement officer. There have been so many profound and meaningful moments, and so many beautiful scenes in my experience, I couldn't name just one.
In fairness, I must answer your question. What would make me utter those words in Faust's situation? I think it would be the last time I spent a day with my entire family, at a barbecue in my mother's back yard, sharing news, enjoying each other's company, laughing endlessly. That was before the death of my brother-in-law, before my nephew's accident, before several other unforseen events tore my family apart. I might give anything to have that moment back again.
