Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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A purpose you impart is no longer your own.
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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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The highest happiness of man ... is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere what is unknowable.
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The greatest joy of a thinking man is to have searched the explored and to quietly revere the unexplored.
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Art will always be art.
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To have a positive religion is not necessary. To be in harmony with yourself and the universe is what counts, and this is possible without positive and specific formulation in words.
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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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I do not now begin, - I still adore Her whom I early cherish'd in my breast; Then once again with prudence dispossess'd, And to whose heart I'm driven back once more. The love of Petrarch, that all-glorious love, Was unrequited, and, alas, full sad.
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We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavor to erase them.
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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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Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.
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Look at a man the way he is and he only becomes worse, but look at him as if he were what he could be, then he becomes what he should be.
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The master proves himselin recognizing his limitations.
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One alone does not help, but rather he who unites with many at the right moment.
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Our foibles are really what make us lovable.
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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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Shakespeare is dangerous to young poets; they cannot but reproduce him, while they fancy that they produce themselves.
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The dignity of art probably appears most eminently with music since it does not have any material that needs to be discounted. Music is all form and content and elevates and ennobles everything that it expresses.
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Without my attempts in natural science, I should never have learned to know mankind such as it is. In nothing else can we so closely approach pure contemplation and thought, so closely observe the errors of the senses and of the understanding, the weak and strong points of character.
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As long as you don't practice it, this dying and becoming, You are only a dreary guest on this dark earth.
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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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Translators are like busy match-makers: they sing the praises of some half-veiled beauty, and extol her charms, and arouse an irresistible longing for the original.
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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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Man is a simple being, and however rich, varied, and unfathomable he may be, the cycle of his situations is soon run through.