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OP 
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=91872
...but my interest was willingly solicited by this saying and I wondered whether any of you know or use it.
Although m-w.com provides a definition of 'nolens volens', the phrase is clearly not in widespread usage. And yet the concept it reflects is a very common one. The notion of a person being 'willing-unwilling' drawn into singing a song, or dancing, etc. is quite useful, I think. Sure there are plenty of alternatives - but it has a good rind to it, does it not?
"...halb zog sie ihn, halb sank er hin" Goethe - Der Fischer
Not sure I would agree that this is the concept behind "nolen volens", belligerentyouth, although I do agree that that seems to be the sense behind your Geothe quotation as interpreted in this discussion which I found online.
nolens volens - (lat. wanting not-wanting) half voluntarily half involuntarily. Goethe (Fischer): half it pulled it, half sank it."
The Professor who cited Goethe's 'push-pull' idea [being "of two minds" about something, or being "pulled in two different directions"] is not seeing the implicit "or" in "nolens volens", I believe.
It is not "nolen volens" I submit, but "nolens [or] volens" as in this discussion of the term:
Word of the Day for Monday June 28, 2004 - Dictionary.com
nolens volens \NO-lenz-VO-lenz\:
Whether unwilling or willing.
"Beneath the surface, little-noticed but fundamental changes are taking place that must compel both sides, nolens volens, sooner or later to reconfigure their tortured but inseparable relationship."
--Bernard Wasserstein, Israelis and Palestinians
Please note "compel" in quotation. Whether they choose, or not, they must, inevitably they will, find a modus vivendi. Like "yin and yang", tail and fang, locked in an endless, circular chase/embrace.
Would this express your idea [and Goethe's] of being "willing-unwilling" both at the same time, BY?
Everything can be described as yin or yang
1. Yin and yang are opposites.
Everything has an opposite. Though it is never absolute, only comparative. However, no one thing is completely yin or completely yang. It contains the seed for it's opposite. For example, cold can turn into hot; "what goes up must come down".
2. Yin and yang are interdependent.
One cannot exist without the other. For example, day cannot exist without night.
3. Yin and yang can be further subdivided into yin and yang.
Any yin or yang aspect can be further subdivided into yin and yang. Take temperature for example. It can be considered hot or cold, but can also be further divided into warm and burning, or cool and icy.
4. Yin and yang consume and support each other.
Yin and yang are constantly kept in balance. As one increases, the other decreases. However, imbalances can occur. There are four possible imbalances: Excess yin, excess yang, yin defeciency, yang deficiency.
5. Yin and yang can transform into one another.
At a particular stage, yin can transform into yang and vice versa. For example, night changes to day ; heat turns to cool; life changes to death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_Yang
P.S. I was surprised to see that I was part of that "volens" discussion a year ago, BY.
And, yes, it does have "a good rind to it". :)
adv. 'as often as'; repeatedly; n. Roman Catholic, indulgence obtainable as often as desired.
willy-nilly
Function: adverb or adjective
Etymology: alteration of will I nill I or will ye nill ye or will he nill he
1 : by compulsion : without choice
(I don't include the 'spontaneous' definition #2 on purpose here because that's not a second cousin.)
unwillingness
Here are two very good words for that state: nolleity and nolition (n.).
willingness
Then there are velleity: just a wish to do something
And volition: a stronger, active determination to do something than mere velleity
So, nolens is like nolleity/nolition...
And volens is like velleity/volition...
And we can pounce the cat and have our nolleity velleity and nolition volition, I suppose.
Nice construction, Wordwind. If you ever get to God's country I'll buy you a Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.
Nicely done.
Don't be silly Musick, when I speak of God's Country I speak of Heaven...
You know...
I'm Alabamy Bound, Alabama Here I Come, Carry Me Back to Ole Alabamy...
You know, the place where everyone wants to go back to.
You know, Musick,
Sweet Home Alabama; the reddest state in the land of the free.
Now Mister Musick, you must stay current.
Get Back?
Back in the U.S.S.R?
Going back to Miami?
...you must stay current
Nah...I think I'll stick with the tyttebær...
http://www.nervik.com/webgalleries/Fruits_and_berries_gallery/pages/Tyttebaer_i_glass.htm
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