Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The use of a thing is only a part of its significance. To know anything thoroughly, to have the full command of it in all its appliances, we must study it on its own account, independently of any special application.
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Voluntary dependence is the wonderful form of existence, and how could that be possible without love?
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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
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None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes.
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Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
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You must be either the servant or the master, the hammer or the anvil.
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What do people mean when they talk about unhappiness? It is not so much unhappiness as impatience that from time to time possesses men, and then they choose to call themselves miserable.
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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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Limitation of aims is the mother of wisdom and the secret of achievement.
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Stood I, O Nature! man alone in thee, Then were it worth one's while a man to be.
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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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Plunge boldly into the thick of life!
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Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.
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I am certain that I have been here as I am now a thousand times before, and I hope to return a thousand times... Man is a dialogue between nature and God. On other planets this dialogue will doubtless be of a higher and profounder character. What is lacking is Self-Knowledge. After that the rest will follow.
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Is not the core of nature in the heart of man?
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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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No doubt you are right... there would be far less suffering amongst mankind if men... did not employ their imaginations so assiduously in recalling the memory of past sorrow, instead of bearing their present lot with equanimity.
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Man usually believes, if only words he hears, That also with them goes material for thinking.
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There is no remedy but love for the great superiority of others.
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Can a sparrow know how a stork feels?
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What is the path? There is no path. On into the unknown.
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What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.
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The church alone beyond all question Has for ill-gotten goods the right digestion.
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One never learns to understand truly anything but what one loves.