Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Since Time is not a person we can overtake when he is gone, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing.
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The coward only threatens when he is safe.
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One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
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If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.
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If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.
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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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Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any; but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own.
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Democracy does not race, it reaches the finish slowly but surely.
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Generosity wins favour for everyone, especially when it is accompanied by modesty.
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If thou wouldst hear what seemly is and fit, inquire of noble woman; they can tell, who in life's common usage hold their place by graceful deed and aptly chosen word.
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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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What is the true test of character unless it be its progressive development in the bustle and turmoil, in the action and reaction of daily life.
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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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Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.
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The fine emotions whence our lives we mold Lie in the earthly tumult dumb and cold.
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It is sometimes essential for a husband and a wife to quarrel - they get to know each other better.
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A stated truth loses its grace, but a repeated error appears insipid and ridiculous.
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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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It would not be worth your while to reach the age of seventy if all the wisdom of the world were to be foolishness before God.
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How can we know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Begin at once to do your duty and immediately you will know what is inside you.
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Passions are defects or virtues in the highest power.
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One does not get to know that one exists until one rediscovers oneself in others.
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If you inquire what people are like here, I must answer, "The same as everywhere."
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Personality is everything in art and poetry.