Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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The most damaging prejudice consists of banning any kind of investigation of nature.
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None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
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What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits.
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Quite often, as life goes on, when we feel completely secure as we go on our way, we suddenly notice that we are trapped in error, that we have allowed ourselves to be taken in by individuals, by objects, have dreamt up an affinity with them which immediately vanishes before our waking eye; and yet we cannot tear ourselves away, held fast by some power that seems incomprehensible to us. Sometimes, however, we become fully aware and realize that error as well as truth can move and spur us on to action.
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For the butterfly, mating and propagation involve the sacrifice of life, for the human being, the sacrifice of beauty.
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The man of understanding finds everything laughable.
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Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.
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Lose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story To-morrow, and the next more dilatory, For indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do, or think you can, begin it! Only engage, and then the mind grows heated; Begin it, and the work will be completed.
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He who is plenteously provided for from within needs but little from without.
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The trouble is small, the fun is great.
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Every person above the ordinary has a certain mission that they are called to fulfill.
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Some of our weaknesses are born in us, others are the result of education; it is a question which of the two gives us most trouble.
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As soon as you are in a social setting, you better take away the key to the lock of your heart and pocket it; those who leave thekey in the lock are fools.
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Superstition is part of the poetry of life.
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It will be! the mass is working clearer! Conviction gathers, truer, nearer! The mystery which for Man in Nature lies We dare to test, by knowledge led; And that which she was wont to organize We crystallize, instead.
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There is no greater consolation for mediocrity than that the genius is not immortal.
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A vain man can never be altogether rude. Desirous as he is of pleasing, he fashions his manners after those of others.
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There is no remedy but love for the great superiority of others.
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We are our own aptest deceiver.
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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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Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent.
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Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
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Whoever aspiring, struggles on, for him there is salvation.
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The happiest man is the one who finds happiness at home.