Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Forget not that the man who cannot enjoy his own natural gifts in silence, and find his reward in the exercise of them, will generally find himself badly off.
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There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art.
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And those whom once my song had cheered and gladdened, If still they live, rove through the world now saddened.
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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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Enjoy what thou has inherited from thy sires if thou wouldn't really possess it. What we employ and use is never an oppressive burden; what the moment brings forth, that only can it profit by.
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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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Wanted: A dog that neither barks nor bites, eats broken glass and shits diamonds.
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Der Irrthum verhält sich gegen das Wahre wie der Schlaf gegen das Wachen. Ich habe bemerkt, daß man aus dem Irren sich wie erquickt wieder zu dem Wahren hinwende.
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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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If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.
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What right those who govern have to govern they don't question, they just govern. Whether the people have a right to depose them that doesn't concern them. All they are concerned with is that the people will not be tempted to depose them.
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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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A person hears only what they understand.
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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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Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
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A great scholar is seldom a great philosopher.
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What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; Whats genuine, shall posterity inherit.
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Distrust those in whom the desire to punish is strong.
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If you start to think of your physical and moral condition, you usually find that you are sick.
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Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution.
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Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.
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The fine emotions whence our lives we mold Lie in the earthly tumult dumb and cold.
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Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want.
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Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.