Several classical sayings that one likes to repeat had quite a different meaning from the ones later times attributed to them.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThey teach in academies far too many things, and far too much that is useless.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHow to please the public - that's the test, But nowadays I find I'm in a fix; I know they're not accustomed to the best, But they've all read so much they know the tricks. How can we give then something fresh and new That's serious, but entertaining too?
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheBasic characteristics of an individual organism: to divide, to unite, to merge into the universal, to abide in the particular, to transform itself, to define itself, and as living things tend to appear under a thousand conditions, to arise and vanish, to solidify and melt, to freeze and flow, to expand and contract. Since these effects occur together, any or all may occur at the same moment.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe