Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
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There is no patriotic art and no patriotic science.
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A noble soul alone can noble souls attract; And knows alone, as ye, to hold them.
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As soon as any one belongs to a narrow creed in science, every unprejudiced and true perception is gone.
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If a man knows where to get good advice, it is as though he could supply it himself.
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The day is for mistake and error, sequence of time for success and carrying out. The one who anticipates is master of the day.
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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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A phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.
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A good man, through obscurest aspirations Has still an instinct of the one true way.
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Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than lower ones quite attained.
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I make presents to the mother but think of the daughter.
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Shakespeare is dangerous to young poets; they cannot but reproduce him, while they fancy that they produce themselves.
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All our knowledge is symbolic.
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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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The question "From where does the poet get it?" addresses only the what, nobody learns anything about the how when asking that question.
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Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
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If we could do away with death, we wouldn't object; to do away with capital punishment will be more difficult. Were that to happen, we would reinstate it from time to time.
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Why go further and further, Look, happiness is right here. Learn how to grab hold of luck, For luck is always there.
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Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
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To appear at church every Sunday; to look down upon, and let himself be looked at for an hour by the congregation, is the best means of becoming popular which can be recommended to a young sovereign.
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Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
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Human life runs its course in the metamorphosis between receiving and giving.
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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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The highest happiness of man ... is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere what is unknowable.