Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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A great deal may be done by severity, more by love, but most by clear discernment and impartial justice.
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Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
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A reasonable man needs only to practice moderation to find happiness.
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The confidant of my vices is my master, though he were my valet.
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Superstition is rooted in a much deeper and more sensitive layer of the psyche than skepticism.
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Error is to truth as sleep is to waking. I have observed that one turns, as if refreshed, from error back to truth.
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Art rests on a kind of religious sense, on a deep, steadfast earnestness; and on this account it unites so readily with religion.
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Everything which is properly business we must keep carefully separate from life. Business requires earnestness and method; life must have a freed handling.
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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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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
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Rejoice that you have still have a long time to live, before the thought comes to you that there is nothing more in the world to see.
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Habit is the most imperious of all masters.
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One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.
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One never goes further than when they do not know where they are going.
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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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You must be either the servant or the master, the hammer or the anvil.
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Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than lower ones quite attained.
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Culture which smooth the whole world licks, Also unto the devil sticks.
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Rash, inexperienced youth holds itself a chosen instrument, and allows itself unbounded license.
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I have heard myself accused of being an opponent, an enemy of mathematics, which no one can value more highly than I, for it accomplishes the very thing whose achievement has been denied me.
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A noble soul alone can noble souls attract; And knows alone, as ye, to hold them.
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Art will always be art.
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Mannerism always wants to be finished and doesn't enjoy the process. Genuine, truly great talent, however, finds its greatest satisfaction in the production.
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The longer I live, the more it grieves me to see man, who occupies his supreme place for the very purpose of imposing his will upon nature, and freeing himself and his from an outrageous necessity--to see him taken up with some false notion, and doing just the opposite of what he wants to do; and then, because the whole bent of his mind is spoilt, bungling miserably over everything.