Yet he who grasps the moment's gift, He is the proper man.

What am I then...? Everything that I have seen, heard, and observed I have collected and exploited. My works have been nourished by countless different individuals, by innocent and wise ones, people of intelligence and dunces. Childhood, maturity and old age all have brought me their thoughts....their perspectives on life. I have often reaped what others have sowed. My work is the work of a collective being that bears the name Goethe.

Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them.

God help us -- for art is long, and life so short.

Many hammer all over the wall and believe that with each blow they hit the nail on the head.

Ill-humor is nothing more than an inward feeling of our own want of merit, a dissatisfaction with ourselves which is always united with an envy that foolish vanity excites.

The human mind will not be confined to any limits.