Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The wealth that cannot be administered is a burden.
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Every great idea exerts, on first appearing, a tyrannical influence: Hence, the advantages it brings are turned all too soon into disadvantages.
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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 most damaging prejudice consists of banning any kind of investigation of nature.
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The little man is still a man.
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Passions are defects or virtues in the highest power.
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He who is firm and resolute in will molds the world to himself.
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Give me those days with heart in riot, The depths of bliss that touched on pain, The force of hate, and love's disquiet- Ah, give me back my youth again!
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Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
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Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
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We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.
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Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
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I must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge to action, inventiveness, performance, order all alternate and keep their orbit; cheerfulness, vigor, energy, flexibility and fatigue, serenity as well as desire. Nothing disturbs the cycle for I lead a simple life, but I must still find the time and order in which I rotate.
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Painting and tattooing the body is a return to animalism.
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Self-love exaggerates our faults as well as our virtues.
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Nature goes her own way, and all that to us seems an exception is really according to order.
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When I make a mistake everyone can see it, but not when I lie.
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A purpose you impart is no longer your own.
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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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Lose this day loitering 'Twill be the same old story, Tomorrow and the next, Even more dilatory. Whatever you would do, Or dream of doing, begin it! Boldness has power, genius, and magic in it. Begin it now.
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Every man bears something within him that, if it were publicly announced, would excite feelings of aversion.
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Ill-humor is nothing more than an inward feeling of our own want of merit, a dissatisfaction with ourselves which is always united with an envy that foolish vanity excites.
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Nothing is worse than active ignorance.
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When a wife has a good husband, it is easily seen on her face.