Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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And I have again observed, my dear friend, in this trifling affair, that misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent occurrence.
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The whole art of living consists in giving up existence in order to exist.
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If you inquire what people are like here, I must answer, "The same as everywhere."
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Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.
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One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.
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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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The soul-stirring image of death is no bugbear to the sage, and is looked on without despair by the pious. It teaches the former to live, and it strengthens the hopes of the latter in salvation in the midst of distress. Death is new life to both.
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A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
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One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.
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I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wants.
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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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No two people see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will often apply the same principle, recognized by both, differently. Even one and the same person won't always maintain the same views and judgments: earlier convictions must give way to later ones.
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Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
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Passions are defects or virtues in the highest power.
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No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.
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To live within limits. To want one thing. Or a few things very much and love them dearly. Cling to them, survey them from every angle. Become one with them - that is what makes the poet, the artist, the human being.
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By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength, no strength that could not become a defect.
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The trouble is small, the fun is great.
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If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well.
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Let no one be ashamed to say yes today if yesterday he said no. Or to say no today if yesterday he said yes. For that is life. Never to have changed-what a pitiable thing of which to boast!
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A man would create another man if one did not already exist, but a woman might live an eternity without even thinking of reproducing her own sex.
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We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out discretion, and so disappears the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.
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The most damaging prejudice consists of banning any kind of investigation of nature.
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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.