Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Even the lowliest, provided he is whole, can be happy, and in his own way, perfect.
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Love does not rule; but it trains, and that is more.
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Schön war ich auch, und das war mein Verderben.
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Properly speaking, such work is never finished; one must declare it so when, according to time and circumstances, one has done one's best.
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The best fortune that can fall to a man is that which corrects his defects and makes up for his failings.
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A useless life is an early death. [Ger., Ein unnutz Leben ist ein fruher Tod.]
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A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.
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The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
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I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.
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Only mankind Can do the impossible: He can distinguish, He chooses and judges, He can give permanence To the moment.
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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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To live as one likes is plebian the noble man aspires to order and law.
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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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One lives but once in the world.
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As beauteous is the world, and many a joy Floats through its wide dominion. But, alas, When we would seize the winged good, it flies.
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Who strives always to the utmost, him can we save.
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I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.
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The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, following blind instinct, after an appearance of naturalness. The one leads to the highest peaks of art, the other to its lowest depths.
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Ein echter deutscher Mann mag keinen Franzen leiden,Doch ihre Weine trinkt er gern.
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The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.
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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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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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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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Plants and flowers of the commonest kind can form a pleasing diary, because nothing which calls back to us the remembrance of a happy moment can be insignificant.