According to Goethe, a poet, thinker, statesman and scientist, and the most recognized icon of German culture, "to simply tolerate is an insult." As a participant in the European Enlightenment movement, which clarified and defined how we understand human rights and provided the foundation on which much of the U.S Constitution is based, Goethe advocated that "tolerance should actually only be a transitional attitude, one which must lead to the acceptance of equality."