Most men, even the most accomplished, are of limited faculties; every one sets a value on certain qualities in himself and others: these alone he is willing to favour, these alone will he have cultivated.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheAustere perseverance, hash and continuous... rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistible greater with time.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHappy is it, indeed, for me that my heart is capable of feeling the same simple and innocent pleasure as the peasant whose table is covered with food of his own rearing, and who not only enjoys his meal, but remembers with delight the happy days and sunny mornings when he planted it, the soft evenings when he watered it, and the pleasure he experienced in watching its daily growth.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWho is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.
Johann Wolfgang von GoethePainting predicates what man wants to see, and what man ought to see, not what he ordinarily sees.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story To-morrow, and the next more dilatory, For indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do, or think you can, begin it! Only engage, and then the mind grows heated; Begin it, and the work will be completed.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe