Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The beginning of faith is the beginning of fruitfulness; but the beginning of unbelief, however glittering, is empty.
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A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
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Thus I reel from desire to fulfillment and in fulfillment languish for desire.
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Ah! my poor brain is racked and crazed, My spirit and senses amazed!
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Faith is like private capital, stored in one's own house. It is like a public savings bank or loan office, from which individuals receive assistance in their days of need; but here the creditor quietly takes his interest for himself.
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It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.
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I have never looked at foreign countries or gone there but with the purpose of getting to know the general human qualities that are spread all over the earth in very different forms, and then to find these qualities again in my own country and to recognize and to further them.
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If you want to reach the infinite, then explore every aspect of the finite.
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Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
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He who is firm and resolute in will molds the world to himself.
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The universal subjugator, the commonplace.
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Our foibles are really what make us lovable.
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Fret not over the irretrievable, but ever act as if thy life were just begun.
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When you are in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude. 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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As long as you don't practice it, this dying and becoming, You are only a dreary guest on this dark earth.
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The greatest joy of a thinking man is to have searched the explored and to quietly revere the unexplored.
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He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasure.
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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
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Culture which smooth the whole world licks, Also unto the devil sticks.
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For just when ideas fail, a word comes in to save the situation.
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The highest happiness of man ... is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere what is unknowable.
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Without haste! without rest! Bind the motto to thy breast! Bear it with thee as a spell; Storm or sunshine, guard it well.
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One alone does not help, but rather he who unites with many at the right moment.
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If you don't know foreign languages, you don't know anything about your own.