Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Thank God when He lays a burden on thee, and thank Him when He takes it off.
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Character calls forth character.
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Painting predicates what man wants to see, and what man ought to see, not what he ordinarily sees.
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Over all the mountain tops is peace. In all treetops you perceive scarcely a breath. The little birds in the forest are silent. Wait then; soon, you too, will have peace.
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If a man sets out to study all the laws, he will have no time left to transgress them.
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One can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.
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You shall abstain, shall abstain. That is the eternal song.
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Art is in itself noble; that is why the artist has no fear of what is common. This, indeed, is already ennobled when he takes it up.
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The Bible grows more beautiful, as we grow in our understanding of it.
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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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We are our own aptest deceiver.
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If we could do away with death, we wouldn't object; to do away with capital punishment will be more difficult. Were that to happen, we would reinstate it from time to time.
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Painting and tattooing the body is a return to animalism.
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The further one advances in experience, the closer one comes to the unfathomable; the more one learns to utilize experience, the more one recognizes that the unfathomable is of no practical value.
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The beautiful is a phenomenon which is never apparent of itself, but is reflected in a thousand different works of the creator.
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Prudent and active men, who know their strength and use it with limit and circumspection, alone go far in the affairs of the world.
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My counsel is, to force nothing, and rather to trifle and sleep away all unproductive days and hours, than on such days to compose something that will afterwards give no pleasure.
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He who is and remains true to himself and to others has the most attractive quality of the greatest talent.
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As great, everlasting, Adamantine laws Dictate, we must all Complete the cycles Of our existence.
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Rash, inexperienced youth holds itself a chosen instrument, and allows itself unbounded license.
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Men are much more apt to agree in what they do than in what they think.
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The confidant of my vices is my master, though he were my valet.
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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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It is better to be doing the most insignificant thing than to reckon even a half-hour insignificant.