Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The modern age has a false sense of superiority, because of the great mass of data at its disposal. But the valid criterion of distinction is rather the extent to which man knows how to form and master the material at his command.
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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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A man's foibles are what makes him lovable.
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Every situation--nay, every moment--is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.
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Several classical sayings that one likes to repeat had quite a different meaning from the ones later times attributed to them.
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He is happy as well as great who needs neither to obey nor to command in order to be something.
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Much there is I can stand, and most things not easy to suffer I bear with quiet resolve, just as a god commands it. Only a few I find as repugnant as snakes and poison - These four: tobacco smoke, bedbugs, garlic, and †.
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Everything is both simpler than we can imagine and more entangled than we can conceive.
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Let him who believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence; he has no reason to give himself airs about it.
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What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.
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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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It is one of Heaven's best gifts to hold such a dear creature in one's arms.
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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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If a man writes a book, let him set down only what he knows. I have guesses enough of my own.
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The field of experience is the whole universe in all directions. Theory remains shut up within the limits of human faculties.
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Mannerism is always longing to have done, and has no true enjoyment in work. A genuine, really great talent, on the other hand, has its greatest happiness in execution.
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Time flies, and what is past is done.
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On the pinnacle of success man does not stand firm long.
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Well-mannered children could be conceived if the parents were well-mannered.
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One errs as long as one strives.
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The sea is flowing ever, The land retains it never.
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The century is advanced, but every individual begins afresh.
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Legislators and revolutionaries who promise both equality and liberty are visionaries and charlatans.
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We are pantheists when we study nature, polytheists when we write poetry, monotheists in our morality.