All theory, my friend, is grey, But green is life's glad golden tree.

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.

A vain man can never be utterly ruthless: he wants to win applause and therefore he accommodates himself to others

When the healthy nature of man acts as a whole, when he feels himself to be in the world as in a great, beautiful, noble, and valued whole, when harmonious ease affords him a pure and free delight, then the universe, if it could experience itself, would exult, as having attained its goal, and admire the climax of its own becoming and essence.

The hardest thing is to see what's under your very eyes.

Enjoy what you can, endure what you must.

Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.