Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Care is taken that trees do not grow into the sky.
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My son, whoever wishes to keep a secret, must hide from us that he possesses one. Self complaisance over the concealed destroys its concealment.
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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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Viewed from the summit of reason, all life looks like a malignant disease and the world like a madhouse.
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What man does not know, Or has not thought of, Wanders in the night Through the labyrinth of the mind.
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In der Kunst ist das Beste gut genug.
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Our wishes are presentiments of the abilities that lie in us, harbingers of what we will be able to accomplish.
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Thank God when He lays a burden on thee, and thank Him when He takes it off.
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Whoso shrinks from ideas ends by having nothing but sensations.
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Time flies, and what is past is done.
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The art of living rightly is like all arts; it must be learned and practiced with incessant care.
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It is unpleasant to miss even the most trifling thing to which we have been accustomed.
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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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Never by reflection, but only by doing is self- knowledge possible to one.
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If you miss the first buttonhole, you will not succeed in buttoning up your coat.
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Collectors are happy people.
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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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With little wit and ease to suit them, They whirl in narrow circling trails, Like kittens playing with their tails.
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Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest. [Ger., Wo viel Licht is, ist starker Schatten.]
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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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To live as one likes is plebian the noble man aspires to order and law.
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We are pantheists when we study nature, polytheists when we write poetry, monotheists in our morality.
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Sometimes I don't understand how another can love her, is allowed to love her, since I love her so completely myself, so intensely, so fully, grasp nothing, know nothing, have nothing but her!
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Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest.