Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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Die Kunst an und für sich selbst ist edel; deßhalb fürchtet sich der Künstler nicht vor dem Gemeinen. Ja indem er es aufnimmt, ist es schon geadelt, und so sehen wir die größten Künstler mit Kühnheit ihr Majestätsrecht ausüben.
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Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.
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By the artist's seizing any one object from nature, that object no longer is part of nature. One can go so far as to say that theartist creates the object in that very moment by emphasizing its significant, characteristic, and interesting aspects or, rather, by adding the higher values.
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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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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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A good person, striving dimly, Is well aware of the right path.
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Piety, like nobility, has its aristocracy.
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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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Das Klassische nenne ich das Gesunde und das Romantische das Kranke.
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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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Collectors are happy people.
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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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People are so constituted that everybody would rather undertake what they see others do, whether they have an aptitude for it or not.
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All perishable is but an allegory.
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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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The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.
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Experiments are mediators between nature and idea.
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But when all is said, the greatest art is to limit and isolate oneself.
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The shudder of awe is humanity's highest faculty, Even though this world is forever altering its values.
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As all Nature's thousands changes But one changeless God proclaim; So in Art's wide kingdom ranges One sole meaning still the same: This is Truth, eternal Reason, Which from Beauty takes its dress, And serene through time and season Stands aye in loveliness.
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In der Kunst ist das Beste gut genug.
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Piety is not an end but a means to attain by the greatest peace of mind the highest degree of culture.
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What's it to you if I love you?