Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The bed of flowers Loosens amain, The beauteous snowdrops Droop o'er the plain. The crocus opens Its glowing bud, Like emeralds others, Others, like blood. With saucy gesture Primroses flare, And roguish violets, Hidden with care; And whatsoever There stirs and strives, The Spring's contented, If works and thrives.
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If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.
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That which is eternal in Woman lifts us above.
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Too rigid scruples are concealed pride.
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The thought of death leaves me in perfect peace, for I have a firm conviction that our spirit is a being of indestructible nature; it works on from eternity to eternity, it is like the sun, which though it seems to set to our mortal eyes, does not really set, but shines on perpetually.
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Wer nichts wagt, gerwinnt nichts. Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß,Wer nie die kummervollen NächteAuf seinem Bette weinend saß,Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte.
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He who moves not forward, goes backward.
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We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies.
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What right those who govern have to govern they don't question, they just govern. Whether the people have a right to depose them that doesn't concern them. All they are concerned with is that the people will not be tempted to depose them.
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A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is also ignorant of his own language.
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No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.
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A man's foibles are what makes him lovable.
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Traveling is like gambling: it is always connected with winning and losing and generally where it is least expected we receive, more or less than what we hoped for.
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Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.
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Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.
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Toleration ought in reality to be merely a transitory mood. It must lead to recognition. To tolerate is to affront.
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Of the truly creative no one is ever master; it must be left to go its own way.
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You accuse a woman of wavering affections, but don't blame her; she is just looking for a consistent man.
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The older I get the more I trust in the law according to which the rose and the lily bloom.
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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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Man must strive, and striving he must err.
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Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.
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One alone does not help, but rather he who unites with many at the right moment.
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One never goes so far as when one doesn't know where one is going.