Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
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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.
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The mind is found most acute and most uneasy in the morning. Uneasiness is, indeed, a species of sagacity - a passive sagacity. Fools are never uneasy.
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Words are mere sound and smoke, dimming the heavenly light.
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Neuere Poeten tun viel Wasser in die Tinte.
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I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.
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Let the noble man Be generous and good, Tirelessly achieving What is just and useful: Let him be a model For those beings whom he surmises.
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Each has his own happiness in his hands, as the artist handles the rude clay he seeks to reshape it into a figure; yet it is the same with this art as with all others: only the capacity for it is innate; the art itself must be learned and painstakingly practiced.
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Man must strive, and striving he must err.
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Das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan.
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Law is mighty, mightier necessity.
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The art of governing is a great metier, requiring the whole man, and it is therefore not well for a ruler to have too strong tendencies for other affairs.
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Zwey Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust.
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A true German can't stand the French, Yet willingly he drinks their wines.
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Mozart is a human incarnation of the divine force of creation.
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People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them aside.
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A genuine work of art usually displeases at first sight, as it suggests a deficiency in the spectator.
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Ein echter deutscher Mann mag keinen Franzen leiden,Doch ihre Weine trinkt er gern.
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We must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
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Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.
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Nicht vor Irrthum zu bewahren, ist die Pflicht des Menschen erziehers; sondern den Irrenden zu leiten, ja ihn seinen Irrthum aus vollen Bechern ausschlürfen zu lassen, das ist Weisheit der Lehrer. Wer seinen Irrthum nur kostet, hält lange damit Haus; er freuet sich dessen als eines seltenen Glücks; aber wer ihn ganz erschöpft, der muß ihn kennenlernen.
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The force of a language does not consist of rejecting what is foreign but of swallowing it.
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If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.
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I hate all explanations; they who make them deceive either themselves or the other party,-generally both.