Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von quotes
1749-1832 German Poet Dramatist NovelistWe cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Children
The coward threatens when he is safe.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Coward and Cowardice
The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Christians and Christianity
Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Deception
The person of analytic or critical intellect finds something ridiculous in everything. The person of synthetic or constructive intellect, in almost nothing.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Critics and Criticism
Strike the dog dead, it s but a critic!
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Critics and Criticism
We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Deception
Master and Doctor are my titles; for ten years now, without repose, I held my erudite recitals and led my pupils by the nose.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Colleges and Universities
I will not be as those who spend the day in complaining of headache, and the night in drinking the wine that gives it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Complaints and Complaining
Doubt can only be removed by action.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Doubt
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Culture
Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Challenges
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Dreams
Those are dead even for this life who hope for no other.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Heaven
No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Enemies
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Commitment
I will listen to anyone s convictions, but pray keep your doubts to yourself.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Doubt
We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Doubt
The destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinion of its young people, those under twenty-five.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Destiny
Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ignorance
Courage and modesty are the most unequivocal of virtues, for they are of a kind that hypocrisy cannot imitate; they too have this quality in common, that they are expressed by the same color.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Courage
You accuse a woman of wavering affections, but don t blame her; she is just looking for a consistent man.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Consistency
Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Contrast
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Courtesy
People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Eccentricity
The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Decisions
The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Happiness
Who is the most sensible person? The one who finds what is to their own advantage in all that happens to them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Common Sense
Wealth lost is something lost, honor lost is something lost: Courage lost all is lost.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Courage
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Cooperation
The man who is born with a talent which he was meant to use finds his greatest happiness in using it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Happiness
What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Happiness
Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Encouragement
Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Death and Dying
It is only in misery that we recognize the hand of God leading good men to good.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Direction
Common sense is the genius of humanity.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Common Sense
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Change
No wise combatant underestimates their antagonist.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Competition
What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Change
While man s desires and aspirations stir he cannot choose but err.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Desire
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Emotions
If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Children
I know nothing more mocking than a devil that despairs.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Devil
Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Deeds and Good Deeds
A useless life is an early death.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Death and Dying
The heights charm us, but the steps do not; with the mountain in our view we love to walk the plains.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Challenges
Rest not. Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Courage
Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Destiny
How can we know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Begin at once to do your duty and immediately you will know what is inside you.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Duty
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Communication
Human beings, by change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Change
Love can do much, but duty more.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Duty
A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Creativity
He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Egotism
Mastery passes often for egotism.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Egotism
Deny yourself! You must deny yourself! That is the song that never ends.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Denial
Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Change
To create something you must be something.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Creativity
The first and last thing required of genius is, love of the truth.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Genius
Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Farming and Farmers
The greatest genius will never be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Genius
The highest happiness of man is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere what is unknowable.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Happiness
The history of mankind is his character.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
History and Historians
It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Fear
More light!
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Famous Last Words
The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Government
Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Flaws
A clever man commits no minor blunders.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Mistakes
A person is never happy till their vague strivings has itself marked out its proper limitations.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Happiness
Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Freedom
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Importance
Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Happiness
If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. They will make note of this and not remain in your debt long.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Forgiveness
A distracted existence leads us to no goal.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Goals
Don t dissipate your powers; strive to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it will surely repent of every ill-judged outlay.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Focus
Only law can give us freedom.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Freedom
Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Hatred
Excellence is rarely found, more rarely valued.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Excellence
In comradeship is danger countered best.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Friends and Friendship
What by a straight path cannot be reached by crooked ways is never won.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Goals
Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Hatred
Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Faults
Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Health
Their is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Goals
One never goes further than when they do not know where they are going.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Goals
Difficulties increase the nearer we approach the goal.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Goals
Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Honesty
I ve studied now Philosophy and Jurisprudence, Medicine -- and even, alas! Theology -- from end to end with labor keen; and here, poor fool with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Learning
In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Learning
Everywhere, we learn only from those whom we love.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Learning
The best fortune that can fall to a man is that which corrects his defects and makes up for his failings.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Mistakes
Every situation, every moment -- is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Eternity
He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Home
Giving is the business of the rich.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Generosity
Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Envy
Be he a king or a peasant, he is happiest who finds peace at home.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Home
Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Flattery
Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Growth
No one as ever completed their apprenticeship.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Learning
We eagerly get hold of a law that serves as a weapon to our passions.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Law and Lawyers
It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Fools and Foolishness
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Habit
One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Humility
Only learn to seize good fortune, for good fortune s always here.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Fortune
Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Feelings
Yes! To this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true; He only earns his freedom and existence Who daily conquers them anew.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Freedom
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Language
Girls we love for what they are; men for what they promise to be.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Men and Women
Our passion are the true phoenixes; when the old one is burnt out, a new one rises from its ashes.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Passion
Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Letters
Passions are vices or virtues to their highest powers.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Passion
If each one does their duty as an individual and if each one works in their own proper vocation, it will be right with the whole.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Management
Nothing shows a man s character more than what he laughs at.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Laughter
If the mass of people hesitate to act, strike with swiftly and with boldness, the brave heart that understands and seizes opportunity can everything.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Procrastination
If you 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.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Praise
When a wife has a good husband it is easily seen in her face.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Marriage
The greater the knowledge, the greater the doubt.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Knowledge
What is not fully understood is not possessed.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Knowledge
If I love you, what business is it of yours?
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Love
There is nothing more frightful than imagination without taste.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Imagination
Never by reflection, but only by doing is self-knowledge possible to one.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Knowledge
The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Intelligence and Intellectuals
Clever people are always the best conversations lexicon.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Intelligence and Intellectuals
Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Kindness
Every offense is avenged on earth.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Justice
A judge who cannot punish, in the end associates themselves with the criminal.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Justice
There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one s self on lies and fables.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Lies and Lying
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Love
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Love
That is the true season of love; when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved as much before, and that no one will ever love in the same way again.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Love
Whenever I hear people talking about liberal ideas, I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ideas
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.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Leaders and Leadership
We are the slaves of objects around us, and appear little or important according as these contract or give us room to expand.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Materialism
The world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish; the impressions remain flat and unconnected in the soul. Thus they are easily led by the opinions of others, are content to let their impressions be shuffled and rearranged and evaluated differently.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Media
Man... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Humankind
The unnatural, that too is natural.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Nature
Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Nature
A person hears only what they understand.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Listening
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ideas
The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Literature
What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Life and Living
In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Nature
Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Photography
There are nine requisites for contented living: HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure; WEALTH enough to support your needs; STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them; GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them; PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished; CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor; LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others; FAITH enough to make real the things of God; HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Life and Living
Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Life and Living
People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Listening
Nature goes her own way and all that to us seems an exception is really according to order.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Nature
Life is the childhood of our immortality.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Life and Living
Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Hope
Traveling is like gambling: it is always connected with winning and losing, and generally where it is least expected we receive, more or less than what we hoped for.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Travel and Tourism
The right man is the one that seizes the moment.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Opportunity
In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Hope
Oral delivery aims at persuasion and making the listener believe they are converted. Few persons are capable of being convinced; the majority allow themselves to be persuaded.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Persuasion
People have a peculiar pleasure in making converts, that is, in causing others to enjoy what they enjoy, thus finding their own likeness represented and reflected back to them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Persuasion
Everything in the world may be endured except continual prosperity.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Prosperity
We can always redeem the man who aspires and strives.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Perseverance
Superstition is the poetry of life.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Superstition
The effects of good music are not just because it s new; on the contrary music strikes us more the more familiar we are with it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Music
Austere perseverance, hash and continuous... rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistible greater with time.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Perseverance
Upon the creatures we have made, we are, ourselves, at last, dependent.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Promotion
To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Persuasion
Secrecy has many advantages, for when you tell someone the purpose of any object right away, they often think there is nothing to it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Persuasion
The philosopher must station themselves in the middle.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Philosophers and Philosophy
What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Present
Reason can never be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular, but reason will always remain the sole property of a few eminent individuals.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Reason
The human mind will not be confined to any limits.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Mind
The people rate strength before everything.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Strength
Since Time is not a person we can overtake when he is gone, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Present
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Potential
There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best as the past withdraws.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Past
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Mind
Out of moderation a pure happiness springs.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Moderation
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Sympathy
We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Present
The little that is completed, vanishes from the sight of one who looks forward to what is still to do.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Patience
Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Motivation
It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Motivation
Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Present
No two men see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will apply in different ways a principle that they both acknowledge. The same man will, indeed, often see and judge the same things differently on different occasions: early convictions must give way to more mature ones. Nevertheless, may not the opinions that a man holds and expresses withstand all trials, if he only remains true to himself and others?
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Opinions
I don t know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Strategies
Napoleon for the sake of a good name broke in pieces half the world.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Power
The little man is still a man.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Men
The most original of authors are not so because they advance what is new, but more because they know how to say something, as if it had never been said before.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Originality
If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Performance
In politics, as on the sickbed, people toss from side to side, thinking they will be more comfortable.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Politicians and Politics
He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Prejudice
Every man has enough power left to carry out that of which he is convinced.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Power
To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Necessity
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Money
Who is sure of their own motives can in confidence advance or retreat.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Motivation
Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Quotations
Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Thoughts and Thinking
Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Understanding
Nothing is true, but that which is simple.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Simplicity
To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed -- That can make life a garden.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Understanding
The man of understanding finds everything laughable.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Understanding
Taste is only to be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good but of the truly excellent. I therefore show you only the best works; and when you are grounded in these, you will have a standard for the rest, which you will know how to value, without overrating them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Senses
The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Senses
Whether a person shows themselves to be a genius in science or in writing a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, or the deed, is living and can live on.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Science and Scientists
A person can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Retirement
On the pinnacle of success man does not stand firm long.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Success
Nothing is to be rated higher than the value of the day.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Time and Time Management
Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Quotations
A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Revolutions and Revolutionaries
All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Thoughts and Thinking
People do not mind their faults being spread out before them, but they become impatient if called on to give them up.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Repentance
We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Time and Time Management
The credit of advancing science has always been due to individuals and never to the age.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Science and Scientists
Self-love exaggerates our faults as well as our virtues.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Self-love
Science has been seriously retarded by the study of what is not worth knowing and of what is not knowable.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Science and Scientists
To understand one thing well is better than understanding many things by halves.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Skill
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Time and Time Management
So long as you live and work, you will be misunderstood; to that you must resign yourself once and for all. Be silent!
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Understanding
There is repetition everywhere, and nothing is found only once in the world.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Simplicity
If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Questions
Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Self-esteem
What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Teams and Teamwork
It is delivery that makes the orators success.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Speakers and Speaking
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Talent
A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Talent
A great scholar is seldom a great philosopher.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Scholars and Scholarship
What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Purpose
Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Secrets
By seeking and blundering we learn.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Research
No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Self-discovery
I do not speak of what I cannot praise.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Speakers and Speaking
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Self-knowledge
A collections of anecdotes and maxims is the greatest of treasures for the man of the world, for he knows how to intersperse conversation with the former in fit places, and to recollect the latter on proper occasions.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Proverbs
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Trust
Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Self-knowledge
A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Self-esteem
Thought expands, but paralyzes; action animates, but narrows.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Thoughts and Thinking
It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Truth
People may live as much retired from the world as they like, but sooner or later they find themselves debtor or creditor to some one.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Retirement
Stupidity is without anxiety.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Stupidity
A purpose you impart is no longer your own.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Purpose
Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Purpose
Every person above the ordinary has a certain mission that they are called to fulfill.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Purpose
We can offer up much in the large, but to make sacrifices in little things is what we are seldom equal to.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Sacrifice
To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Purpose
Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Public
For this reason the Bible is a book of eternal and effective power; because, as long as the world lasts, no one will say: I comprehend it in the whole and understand it in the particular. Rather we must modestly say it on the whole it is venerable, and in the particular practical.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Bible
Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Character
Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Character
He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Enjoyment
Character develops itself in the stream of life.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Character
Enjoy what thou has inherited from thy sires if thou wouldn t really possess it. What we employ and use is never an oppressive burden; what the moment brings forth, that only can it profit by.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Enjoyment
The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Arts and Artists
It is said, that no one is a hero to their butler. The reason is, that it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The butler, however, will probably know well how to estimate his equals.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Heroes and Heroism
The highest problem of any art is to cause by appearance the illusion of a higher reality.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Arts and Artists
The hero draws inspiration from the virtue of his ancestors.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Heroes and Heroism
The formation of one s character ought to be everyone s chief aim.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Character
Personality is everything in art and poetry.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Arts and Artists
Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Character
One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is when we see its separate forms jumbled together.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Arts and Artists
Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Arts and Artists
Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Character
Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Behavior
The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Adversity
All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Aristocracy
Before you can do something you must first be something.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Action
What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Fame
There is no crime of which I do not deem myself capable.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Crime and Criminals
Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Beauty
He who is plenteously provided for from within, needs but little from without.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Abundance
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Achievement
Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Age and Aging
Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Beauty
Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Fame
How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflection? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then you shall know what is in thee.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
The deed is everything, the glory is naught.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
Then 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 dream you can, begin it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
When all is said the greatest action is to limit and isolate one s self.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Action
The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Absence
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Beauty
They teach in academies far too many things, and far too much that is useless.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Education
One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Agreement
Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ability
He is dead in this world who has no belief in another.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Belief
Oh how sweet it is to hear one s own convictions from another s lips.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Belief
For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Achievement
We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavor to erase them.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Belief
We must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Age and Aging
People are so constituted that everybody would rather undertake what they see others do, whether they have an aptitude for it or not.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ability
The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ability
The really unhappy person is the one who leaves undone what they can do, and starts doing what they don t understand; no wonder they come to grief.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Ability
The older we get the more we must limit ourselves if we wish to be active.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Age and Aging
Rejoice that you have still have a long time to live, before the thought comes to you that there is nothing more in the world to see.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Age and Aging
If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Belief
It is only necessary to grow old to become more charitable and even indulgent. I see no fault committed by others that I have not committed myself.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
Age and Aging
If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.