Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Es ist so gewiß als wunderbar, daß Wahrheit und Irrthum aus Einer Quelle entstehen; deßwegen man oft dem Irrthum nicht schaden darf, weil man zugleich der Wahrheit schadet.
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New inventions can and will be made; however, nothing new can be thought of that concerns moral man. Everything has already been thought and said which at best we can express in different forms and give new expressions to.
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Whatever necessity lays upon thee, endure; whatever she commands, do.
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All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.
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A good person, striving dimly, Is well aware of the right path.
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Collectors are happy people.
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Our passions are the true phoenixes; when the old one is burnt out, a new one rises from its ashes.
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It is only necessary to grow old to become more charitable and even indulgent. I see no fault committed by others that I have not committed myself.
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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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The century is advanced, but every individual begins afresh.
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As our inclinations, so our opinions.
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A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is also ignorant of his own language.
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There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables.
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The greatest act of faith takes place when a man finally decides that he is not God.
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Not all that is presented to us as history has really happened; and what really happened did not actually happen the way it is presented to us; moreover, what really happened is only a small part of all that happened. Everything in history remains uncertain, the largest events as well as the smallest occurrence.
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Water its living strength first shows, When obstacles its course oppose.
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And step by step, along the path of life, There's nothing true but Heaven.
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Rash combat oft immortalizes man; if he should fall, he is renowned in song; but after-ages reckon not the ceaseless tears which the forsaken woman sheds. Poets tell us not of the many nights consumed in weeping, or of the dreary days wherein her anguished soul vainly yearns to call her loved one back.
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You must either conquer and rule or serve and lose, suffer or triumph, be the anvil or the hammer.
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Against great advantages in another, there are no means of defending ourselves except love.
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A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
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We are pantheists when we study nature, polytheists when we write poetry, monotheists in our morality.
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The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and draws near the master.
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Rest not. Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.