I am the spirit that negates/that denies: Comparing Goethe’s Faust Translations – Kauffmann and Kline:Kauffmann:MEPHISTO:I am the spirit that negates.And rightly so, for all that comes to beDeserves to perish wretchedly;‘Twere better nothing would begin.Thus everything that your terms, sin,Destruction, evil represent—That is my proper element– Kaufmann, Walter (1963). “Introduction”. Goethe’s Faust : part one and sections from part two (Anchor books ed. ed.). Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday. p. 47. ISBN 0-385-03114-9Tony Kline:MephistophelesI am the spirit, ever, that denies!And rightly so: since everything created,In turn deserves to be annihilated: 1340Better if nothing came to be.So all that you call Sin, you see,Destruction, in short, what you’ve meantBy Evil is my true element.Pasted from <http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/FaustIScenesItoIII.htm>