Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.
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All beginnings are delightful; the threshold is the place to pause.
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One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
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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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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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There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
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Patriotism ruins history.
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Everything that liberates our mind without at the same time imparting self-control is pernicious.
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Sing it not in mournful numbers.
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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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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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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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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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Die Wissenschaft hilft uns vor allem, daß sie das Staunen, wozu wir von Natur berufen find.
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Self knowledge is best learned not by contemplation, but by action.
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Time itself is an element.
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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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Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than malice and wickedness.
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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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Es gibt Fälle, ... wo jeder Trost niederträchtig und Verzweiflung Pflicht ist.
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The first and last thing demanded of genius is love of truth.