I must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge to action, inventiveness, performance, order all alternate and keep their orbit; cheerfulness, vigor, energy, flexibility and fatigue, serenity as well as desire. Nothing disturbs the cycle for I lead a simple life, but I must still find the time and order in which I rotate.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMan believes himself always greater than he is, and is esteemed less than he is worth.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThus one can observe that those who proclaim piety as their goal and purpose usually turn into hypocrites.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheNot all that is presented to us as history has really happened; and what really happened did not actually happen the way it is presented to us; moreover, what really happened is only a small part of all that happened. Everything in history remains uncertain, the largest events as well as the smallest occurrence.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe