Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.
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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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It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.
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Superstition is rooted in a much deeper and more sensitive layer of the psyche than skepticism.
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Hold your powers together for something good and let everything go that is for you without result and is not suited to you.
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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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Whatever is the object of a saint's hope is the subject of his prayer.
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One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.
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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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What makes poetry? A full heart, brimful of one noble passion.
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We can really respect a man only if he doesn't always look out for himself.
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Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.
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National literature does not mean much these days; now is the age of world literature, and every one must contribute to hasten thearrival of that age.
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When a wife has a good husband, it is easily seen on her face.
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The day is committed to error and floundering; success and achievement are matters of long range.
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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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Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.
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If you want to make life easy, make it hard.
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Enjoy what you can, endure what you must.
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What is predestination? Answer: God is more powerful and wiser than we are, therefore he deals with us according to his pleasure.
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Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.
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Let your trouble be Light will follow dark Though the heaven falls You may hear the lark.
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Alas! how much there is in education, and in our social institutions, to prepare us and our children for insanity.
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One criticizes the English for carrying their teapots wherever they go, even lugging them up Mount Etna. But doesn't every nationhave its teapot, in which, even when traveling, it brews the dried bundles of herbs brought from home?