Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

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.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Joy
• Discovery
• Plagiarist

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Quotes to Explore

• There was never a great man who had not a great mother.

  

  Olive Schreiner
  • Great
  • Mother
  • Man

• I am inspired by anything beautiful. Sometime it's a pair of eyes or flowing gorgeous hair, other times it's the sky or a sunset. I've been inspired by supple skin or the texture of a soft shirt.

  

  Nadine Velazquez
  • Beautiful
  • Eyes
  • Hair

• Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance.

  

  Jack Dempsey
  • Chance
  • Living
  • Nobody

• If there is no criticism, you become lazy. But it should be constructive, and it should be the truth. If it's biased and there's no truth in it, then I don't care about it. If it's true, it helps me grow.

  

  A. R. Rahman
  • Truth
  • True
  • Care

• More and more, cultural groups are cross-pollinating, and we're getting much more interesting art as a result.

  

  Damon Albarn Blur
  • Art
  • Interesting
  • More

• Deep breaths are very helpful at shallow parties.

  

  Barbara Walters
  • Deep
  • Very
  • New Years

• Probably I understand very much the people who rise against injustice.

  

  Lakhdar Brahimi
  • People
  • Injustice
  • Rise

• It's really kind of a luxury for an actor to have the opportunity to show such different types of characters. I actually left 'Cowboys & Aliens' and went straight into 'The Change-Up.' It was kind of a funny change of pace.

  

  Olivia Wilde
  • Up
  • Different
  • Opportunity

• Writing and directing, to me, was the logical evolution from my life as an actor: going from telling someone else's story to actually creating my own. Perhaps one day I will do all three: write, direct, and act in the same production. That might get a little hectic, though.

  

  Tamzin Merchant
  • Life
  • Writing
  • Day

• There are certain men and women who, from the minute they step in front of a camera, that's exactly where they belong. Connery's one.

  

  F. Murray Abraham
  • Men
  • Women
  • Step

• I'm a writer first and a singer second.

  

  Lana Del Rey
  • First
  • Writer
  • Singer

• The whole history of computers is rampant with cheerleading at best and bigotry at worst.

  

  Larry Wall
  • History

• Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.

  

  Alfred Whitney Griswold
  • Long
  • History
  • Bad

• Everything in moderation, with occasional excess - Ghost Rider (2002)

  

  Neil Peart Rush

• We know what the Dixie flag represents and its heritage; the Civil War was fought over States rights.

  

  Gary Rossington Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • War

• In my opinion, no single design is apt to be optimal for everyone.

  

  Donald Norman
  • Single
  • Opinion
  • Design

• Sabotage did not involve loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations. Bitterness would be kept to a minimum and, if the policy bore fruit, democratic government could become a reality.

  

  Nelson Mandela
  • Life
  • Hope
  • Future

• I'm the type of guy who, right as I'm taking off, I'm deciding, 'Hey, where do I want to go today?'

  

  Jimmy Graham
  • Guy
  • Today

• I've liked all the directors I've worked with a lot. And the ones I like best are the ones that have really good taste about what take was best.

  

  Ellen Burstyn
  • Good

• Education would be a divine thing, if it did nothing more than help us to think and love great thoughts instead of little thoughts.

  

  John Lancaster Spalding
  • Great
  • Help
  • Education

• Just in terms of when I got the script, the character I probably liked the least was Big Foster. Because even though he was central to the story and to that world, he was really written to be kind of a brute, a pig, a completely black-and-white bad guy.

  

  David Morse
  • World
  • Character
  • Bad

• The goal of dream study is to increase one's contact with and access to the abilities of their subconscious mind. I became interested in dreams as an avenue to increase my knowledge of the subconscious mind, and increase my psychological and emotional effectiveness. I have been recording my dreams since I was seventeen.

  

  Charles McPhee
  • Mind
  • Dream
  • Study

• When news of the first plane's hitting the World Trade Center reached them, bin Laden's followers exploded with joy. But shrewder members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan realized that the attacks might not be the stunning victory that bin Laden, and many in the West, took them to be.

  

  Peter Bergen
  • World
  • Joy
  • Leadership

• 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.

  

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Joy
  • Discovery
  • Plagiarist