Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
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If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. If we practice and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the wholeworld will be blind and toothless.
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There are few who have at once thought and capacity for action. Thought expands, but lames; action animates, but narrows.
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They teach in academies far too many things, and far too much that is useless.
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I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
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No skill or art is needed to grow old; the trick is to endure it.
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Mysterious in the light of day, nature retains her veil, despite our clamours: That which she does not willingly display cannot be wrenched from her with levers, screws and hammers.
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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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Culture which smooth the whole world licks, Also unto the devil sticks.
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If you wish to advance into the infinite, explore the finite in all directions.
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Truth is a torch, but a terrific one; therefore we all try to reach it with closed eyes, lest we should be scorched.
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I had rather be Mercury, the smallest among seven planets, revolving round the sun, than the first among five moons revolving round Saturn.
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New inventions can and will be made; however, nothing new can be thought of that concerns moral man. Everything has already been thought and said which at best we can express in different forms and give new expressions to.
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Legislators and revolutionaries who promise both equality and liberty are visionaries and charlatans.
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What sort of God would it be, who only pushed from without.
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Tomorrow sees undone, what happens not to-day; Still forward press, nor never tire! The possible, with steadfast trust, Resolve should be by the forelock grasp. Then she will ne'er let go her clasp, And labors on, because she must.
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Man can find no better retreat from the world than art, and man can find no stronger link with the world than art.
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It is a great pleasure to transport one's-self into the spirit of the times; to see how a wise man has thought before us, and to what a glorious height we have at last carried it.
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A useless life is an early death. [Ger., Ein unnutz Leben ist ein fruher Tod.]
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Nothing is more odious than the majority, for it consists of a few powerful leaders, a certain number of accommodating scoundrels and submissive weaklings, and a mass of men who trot after them without thinking, or knowing their own minds.
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Whatever liberates our spirit, without also giving us mastery over ourselves, is destructive.
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No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.
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The rabble also vent their rage in words.
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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.