Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The eternal feminine draws us on high.
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I had toward the poetic art a peculiar relation which was only practical after I had cherished in my mind for a long time a subject which possessed me, a model which inspired me, a predecessor who attracted me, until at length, after I had molded it.
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There are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of great things: strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.
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The rainbow mirrors human aims and action. Think, and more clearly wilt thou grasp it, seeing Life is but light in many-hued reflection.
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All beginnings are delightful; the threshold is the place to pause.
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Patriotism ruins history.
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There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
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Nature! We are surrounded by her and locked in her clasp: powerless to leave her, and powerless to come closer to her. Unasked and unwarned she takes us up into the whirl of her dance, and hurries on with us till we are weary and fall from her arms.
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Sing it not in mournful numbers.
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Everything that liberates our mind without at the same time imparting self-control is pernicious.
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Nature's crown is Love. Only through Love can we come near her. She puts gulfs between all things, and all things strive to be interfused. She isolates everything, that she may draw everything together. With a few draughts from the cup of Love she repays for a life full of trouble.
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Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than malice and wickedness.
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Three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot; that it be securely founded; that it be successfully executed.
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Es gibt Fälle, ... wo jeder Trost niederträchtig und Verzweiflung Pflicht ist.
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Who wants to understand the poemMust go to the land of poetry;Who wishes to understand the poetMust go to the poet's land.
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So, lively brisk old fellow, don't let age get you down. White hairs or not, you can still be a lover.
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Nur der verdient sich Freiheit wie das LebenDer täglich sie erobern muß.
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Knowst thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom,Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?
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Time itself is an element.
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Die Wissenschaft hilft uns vor allem, daß sie das Staunen, wozu wir von Natur berufen find.
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If we meet someone who owes us a debt of gratitude, we remember the fact at once. How often we can meet someone to whom we owe a debt of gratitude without thinking about it at all!
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A man is really alive only when he delights in the good-will of others.
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Self knowledge is best learned not by contemplation, but by action.
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Time is my estate: to Time I'm heir.