Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with other events, usually only amuses himself or makes sport of us, as, for instance, the naturalist or historian. But a single action or event is interesting, not because it is explainable, but because it is true.
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Rash, inexperienced youth holds itself a chosen instrument, and allows itself unbounded license.
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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
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Our foibles are really what make us lovable.
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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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Let him who believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence; he has no reason to give himself airs about it.
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We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.
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When translating one must proceed up to the intranslatable; only then one becomes aware of the foreign nation and the foreign tongue.
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Few men have imagination enough for reality.
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If we are out of synch with ourselves, everything is out of synch for us.
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If society gives up the right to impose the death penalty, then self-help will appear again and personal vendettas will be around the corner.
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Lose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story To-morrow, and the next more dilatory, For indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do, or think you can, begin it! Only engage, and then the mind grows heated; Begin it, and the work will be completed.
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Even dirt glitters when the sun is shining upon it.
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Superstition is rooted in a much deeper and more sensitive layer of the psyche than skepticism.
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Ah! my poor brain is racked and crazed, My spirit and senses amazed!
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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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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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What sort of God would it be, who only pushed from without.
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People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.
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Art will always be art.
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You shall abstain, shall abstain. That is the eternal song.
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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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Nothing is good for a nation but that which arises from its own core and its own general wants, without apish imitation of another.
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One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.