Our passions are true phoenixes; as the old burn out the new straight rise up from the ashes.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheArt is constitutive-the artist determines beauty. He does not take it over.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHigher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than lower ones quite attained.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheNo one can take from us the joy of the first becoming aware of something, the so-called discovery. But if we also demand the honor, it can be utterly spoiled for us, for we are usually not the first. What does discovery mean, and who can say that he has discovered this or that? After all it's pure idiocy to brag about priority; for it's simply unconscious conceit, not to admit frankly that one is a plagiarist.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe