If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMy counsel is, to force nothing, and rather to trifle and sleep away all unproductive days and hours, than on such days to compose something that will afterwards give no pleasure.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheEvery reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWe cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe