Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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All poetry is supposed to be instructive but in an unnoticeable manner; it is supposed to make us aware of what it would be valuable to instruct ourselves in; we must deduce the lesson on our own, just as with life.
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The public wishes itself to be managed like a woman; one must say nothing to it except what it likes to hear.
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Art is based on a strong sentiment of religion,--on a profound and mighty earnestness; hence it is so prone to co-operate with religion.
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It is better to be doing the most insignificant thing than to reckon even a half-hour insignificant.
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The thinking person has the strange characteristic to like to create a fantasy in the place of the unsolved problem, a fantasy that stays with the person even when the problem has been solved and truth made its appearance.
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I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
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It is unpleasant to miss even the most trifling thing to which we have been accustomed.
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The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth. [Ger., Das erste und letzte, was vom Genie gefordert wird, ist Wahreits-Liebe.]
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The mark of highest originality lies in the ability to develop a familiar idea so fruitfully that it would seem no one else would ever have discovered so much to be hidden in it.
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You'll never attain it unless you know the feeling.
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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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We don't get to know people when they come to us; we must go to them to find out what they are like.
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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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He is happy as well as great who needs neither to obey nor to command in order to be something.
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The best way to understand a painting is by drawing it.
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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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To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.
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Forget not that the man who cannot enjoy his own natural gifts in silence, and find his reward in the exercise of them, will generally find himself badly off.
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I do not speak of what I cannot praise.
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Ich singe, wie der Vogel singtDer in den Zweigen wohnet.
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Legislators and revolutionaries who promise both equality and liberty are visionaries and charlatans.
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In comradeship is danger countered best.
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They teach in academies far too many things, and far too much that is useless.
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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.