Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

The clever reader who is capable or reading between these lines what does not stand written in them but is nevertheless implied will be able to form some conception.

We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.

Do thine own task, and be therewith content.

No 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.

Whatever we think out, whatever we take in hand to do, should be perfectly and finally finished, that the world, if it must alter, will only have to spoil it; we have then nothing to do but unite the severed, to recollect and restore the dismembered.

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.

A word spoken is a terrible thing when it suddenly utters what the heart has long allowed.

A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.

By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength, no strength that could not become a defect.

Generosity wins favour for everyone, especially when it is accompanied by modesty.

Life is but a preparation for what there is to come.

Napoleon affords us an example of the danger of elevating one's self to the absolute, and sacrificing everything to the carrying out of an idea.

A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is nothing but a mere magic-lantern show. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of each, and pushing it back to make haste for the next.

A state of affairs which leads to daily vexation is not the right state.

He who cannot love must learn to flatter.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

The deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of skepticism with faith.

Since you know me and my destiny only too well, you probably also know what attracts me to all unfortunate people.

How marvelous, wide and broad is my Inheritance! Time is my property, my estate is time.

Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.

Mankind? That is an abstraction. There have always been and always will be only individuals.

Say what you will of fortitude, but show me the man who can patiently endure the laughter of fools when they have obtained an advantage over him. 'Tis only when their nonsense is without foundation that one can suffer it without complaint.

One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is the intermixing of different genres.

Shakespeare is a great psychologist, and whatever can be known of the heart of man may be found in his plays.

One usually thinks people to be more dangerous than they are.

Would you require a wretched being, whose life is slowly wasting under a lingering disease, to despatch himself at once by the stroke of a dagger? Does not the very disorder which consumes his strength deprive him of the courage to effect his deliverance?

No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.

Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach.

If we take people only as they are, then we make them worse; if we treat them as if they were what they should be, then we bring them to where they can be brought.

If you have a great work in your head, nothing else thrives near it; all other thoughts are repelled, and the pleasure of life itself is for the time lost.

The highest happiness, the purest joys of life, wear out at last.

The history of science is science itself; the history of the individual, the individual.

Why should we not recognize in the lightning, the thunder, and the storm wind, the approach of an overwhelming Power, and in the scent of flowers and the gently rustling zephyr the presence of a Being full of love?

This being busied with thoughts of immortality is for the noble classes and especially for women with nothing to do. A solid person, though, someone who already intends to be something worthy here, and who therefore has to strive daily, has to struggle and work, gives the world to come a rest.

Reason can never be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular, but reason will always remain the sole property of a few eminent individuals.

It is commonly the personal character of a writer which gives him his public significance. It is not imparted by his genius. Napoleon said of Corneille, "Were he living I would make him a king;" but he did not read him. He read Racine, yet he said nothing of the kind of Racine.

You shall abstain, shall abstain. That is the eternal song.

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Art is constitutive-the artist determines beauty. He does not take it over.

An angel! Nonsense! Everybody so describes his mistress; and yet I find it impossible to tell you how perfect she is, or why she is so perfect: suffice it to say she has captivated all my senses.

Writing history is a method of getting rid of the past.

Commonplaceness, the surrender to the average, that good which is not bad but still the enemy of the best - That is our besetting danger.

Fret not over the irretrievable, but ever act as if thy life were just begun.

This world could not exist if it were not so simple. The ground has been tilled a thousand years, yet its powers remain ever the same; a little rain, a little sun, and each spring it grows green again.

The one who acts is always without conscience; nobody has a conscience but the contemplative person.

As long as you don't practice it, this dying and becoming, You are only a dreary guest on this dark earth.

Try novelties for salesman's bait, For novelty wins everyone.