Man can only endure a certain degree of unhappiness; what is beyond that either annihilates him or passes by him and leaves him apathetic

The work of art may have a moral effect, but to demand moral purpose from the artist is to make him ruin his work.

Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.

Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.

If everyone sweeps before his own front door, then the street is clean.

There is nothing by which men display their character so much as in what they consider ridiculous... Fools and sensible men are equally innocuous. It is in the half fools and the half wise that the great danger lies.

The sun had, in the meanwhile, sunk behind the Ettersberg. We felt in the wood the chill of the evening, and drove all the quicker to Wiemar, and to Goethe's house. Goethe urged me to go in with him for a while, and I did so. He was in an extremely engaging mood. He talked a great deal about his theory of colors, and of his obstinate opponents; remarking that he was sure that he had done something in this science.