Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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There is no patriotic art and no patriotic science.
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When the healthy nature of man acts as a whole, when he feels himself to be in the world as in a great, beautiful, noble, and valued whole, when harmonious ease affords him a pure and free delight, then the universe, if it could experience itself, would exult, as having attained its goal, and admire the climax of its own becoming and essence.
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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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On top of the world, or in the depths of despair.
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We can most safely achieve truly universal tolerance when we respect that which is characteristic in the individual and in nations, clinging, though, to the conviction that the truly meritorious is unique by belonging to all of mankind.
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Every decided colour does a certain violence to the eye, and forces the organ to opposition.
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In politics people throw themselves, as on a sickbed, from one side to the other in the belief they will lie more comfortably.
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If we examine every stage of our lives, we find that from our first breath to our last we are under the constraint of circumstances. And yet we still possess the greatest of all freedoms, the power of developing our innermost selves in harmony with the moral order of the universe, and so winning peace of heart whatever obstacles we meet.
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We eagerly get hold of a law that serves as a weapon to our passions.
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Faith is hidden household capital.
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The history of mankind is his character.
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I don't know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy.
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What then is your duty? What the day demands.
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Tolerance should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood; it ought to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is to affront him.
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Those only obtain love, for the most part, who seek it not.
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Humor is one of the elements of genius--admirable as an adjunct; but as soon as it becomes dominant, only a surrogate for genius.
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Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.
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If nature is your teacher, your soul will awaken.
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Superstition is the poetry of life. It is inherent in man's nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon as it can do it with safety.
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The soul of the Christian religion is reverence.
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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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If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.
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Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of getting burned.
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Music is so elevated that it is beyond the reach of intellect and there flows from it an influence which is all-potent, and which noone can explain.