Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.
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The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
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The desire to explain what is simple by what is complex, what is easy by what is difficult, is a calamity affecting the whole body of science, known, it is true, to men of insight, but not generally admitted.
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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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Der umgang mit frauen ist das element guter sitten.
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Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.
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O'er all the hilltopsIs quiet now,In all the treetopsHearest thouHardly a breath;The birds are asleep in the trees:Wait; soon like theseThou too shalt rest.
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The greatest happiness for the thinking person is to have explored the explorable and to venerate in equanimity that which cannotbe explored.
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Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.
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Shakespeare is a great psychologist, and whatever can be known of the heart of man may be found in his plays.
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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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Happy the man who early learns the wide chasm that lies between his wishes and his powers.
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Even the lowliest, provided he is whole, can be happy, and in his own way, perfect.
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To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities.
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I can promise to be sincere, but I cannot promise to be impartial.
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An angel! Nonsense! Everybody so describes his mistress; and yet I find it impossible to tell you how perfect she is, or why she is so perfect: suffice it to say she has captivated all my senses.
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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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It is always a sign of an unproductive time when it concerns itself with petty and technical aspects [in philology], and likewiseit is a sign of an unproductive person to pursue such trifles.
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The child, offered the mother's breast, Will not in the beginning grab it; But soon it clings to it with zest. And thus at wisdom's copious breasts You'll drink each day with greater zest.
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A violet on the meadow grew, That no one saw, that no one knew, It was a modest flower. A shepherdess pass'd by that way. Light footed, pretty and so gay; That way she came, Softly warbling forth her lay.
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There's nothing clever that hasn't been thought of before - you've just got to try to think it all over again.
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Whatever liberates our spirit, without also giving us mastery over ourselves, is destructive.
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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.
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The close and thoughtful observer more and more learns to recognize his limitations. He realizes that with the steady growth of knowledge more and more new problems keep on emerging.