Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.
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All truths are old, and all that we have to do is recognize and utter them anew.
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The safest thing is always to try to convert everything that is in us and around us into action; let the others talk and argue about it as they please.
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Impotent hatred is the most horrible of all emotions; one should hate nobody whom one cannot destroy.
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The best benefit we derive from history is the enthusiasm it excites.
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Names are but noise and smoke, Obscuring heavenly light.
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Were the eye not of the sun, How could we behold the light? If God's might and ours were not as one, How could His work enchant our sight?
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Everything perfect in its kind has to transcend its own kind, it must become something different and incomparable. In some notes the nightingale is still a bird; then it rises above its class and seems to suggest to every winged creature what singing is truly like.
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The eye doesn't see any shapes, it sees only what is differentiated through light and dark or through colors.
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Daily life is more instructive than the most effective book.
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A good man, through obscurest aspirations Has still an instinct of the one true way.
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Great possessions and great want of them are both strong temptations.
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As great, everlasting, Adamantine laws Dictate, we must all Complete the cycles Of our existence.
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The words you've bandied are sufficient; 'Tis deeds that I prefer to see.
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Noble be man, helpful and good!
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Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
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The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.
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One can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.
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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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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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There is no greater consolation for mediocrity than that the genius is not immortal.
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It is said that no man is a hero to his valet. That is because a hero can be recognized only by a hero.
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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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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.