Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
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The church alone beyond all question Has for ill-gotten goods the right digestion.
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Men in a state of nature, uncivilized nations, children, have a great fondness for colors in their utmost brightness, and especially for yellow-red.
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We accept every person in the world as that for which he gives himself out, only he must give himself out for something. We can put up with the unpleasant more easily than we can endure the insignificant.
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As for solitude, I cannot understand how certain people seek to lay claim to intellectual stature, nobility of soul and strength of character, yet have not the slightest feeling for seclusion; for solitude, I maintain, when joined with a quiet contemplation of nature, a serene and conscious faith in creation and the Creator, and a few vexations from outside is the only school for a mind of lofty endowment.
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It is a misfortune to pass at once from observation to conclusion, and to regard both as of equal value; but it befalls many a student.
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The happiest man is the one who finds happiness at home.
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Age childish makes, they say, but 'tis not true; We're only genuine children still in Age's season. [Ger., Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht, Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder.]
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Can a sparrow know how a stork feels?
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A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
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Too rigid scruples are concealed pride.
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One says a lot in vain, refusing;The other mainly hears the 'No.'
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A phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.
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The deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of skepticism with faith.
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Man usually believes, if only words he hears, That also with them goes material for thinking.
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A noble soul alone can noble souls attract; And knows alone, as ye, to hold them.
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My counsel is, to force nothing, and rather to trifle and sleep away all unproductive days and hours, than on such days to compose something that will afterwards give no pleasure.
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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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Duration in change.
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The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, power and grace.
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Superstition is part of the poetry of life.
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You must be either the servant or the master, the hammer or the anvil.
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The mortal race is far too weak not to grow dizzy on unwonted brights.
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Wherever a man may happen to turn, whatever a man may undertake, he will always end up by returning to that path which nature has marked out for him.