Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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A mathematician is only perfect insofar as he is a perfect man, sensitive to the beauty of truth.
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Art is long, life short; judgment difficult, opportunity transient.
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Nature! We live in her midst and know her not. She is incessantly speaking to us, but betrays not her secret. We constantly act upon her, and yet have no power over her. Variant: NATURE! We are surrounded and embraced by her: powerless to separate ourselves from her, and powerless to penetrate beyond her.
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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 society of women is the element of good manners.
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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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Superstition is the poesy of practical life; hence, a poet is none the worse for being superstitious.
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Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.
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Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.
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The greatest genius will not be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources.
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To make an epoch in the world, two conditions are manifestly essential-a good head and a great inheritance.
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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?
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Happy the man who early learns the wide chasm that lies between his wishes and his powers.
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Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny.
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Wer nichts wagt, gerwinnt nichts. Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß,Wer nie die kummervollen NächteAuf seinem Bette weinend saß,Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte.
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Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.
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It used to happen, and still happens, to me to take no pleasure in a work of art at the first sight of it, because it is too much for me; but if I suspect any merit in it, I try to get at it; and then I never fail to make the most gratifying discoveries--to find new qualities in the work itself and new faculties in myself.
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To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities.
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The bad thing is that thinking about thought doesn't help at all; one has to have it from nature so that the good ideas appear before us like free children of God calling to us: Here we are.
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A man's name is not like a mantle which merely hangs about him...but a perfectly fitting garment, which, like the skin, has grown over him, at which one cannot rake and scrape without injuring the man himself.
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Everything that we encounter leaves traces behind. Everything contributes imperceptibly to our education.
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Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.
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The poet should seize the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal.
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The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.