Very few people love others for what they are; rather, they love what they lend them, their own selves, their own idea of them.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLet mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires: beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheAnd those whom once my song had cheered and gladdened, If still they live, rove through the world now saddened.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThe person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheI must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge to action, inventiveness, performance, order all alternate and keep their orbit; cheerfulness, vigor, energy, flexibility and fatigue, serenity as well as desire. Nothing disturbs the cycle for I lead a simple life, but I must still find the time and order in which I rotate.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe