Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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No one should be rich except those who understand it.
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Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away by it.
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Old age is never honored among us, but only indulged, as childhood is; and old men lose one of the most precious rights of man,--that of being judged by their peers.
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How can we learn self-knowledge? Never by taking thought but rather by action. Try to do your duty and you'll soon discover what you're like.
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What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.
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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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All truths are old, and all that we have to do is recognize and utter them anew.
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The true poet is called to take in the splendor of the world and for that reason will always be inclined to praise rather than tofind fault.
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Mathematics can remove no prejudices and soften no obduracy. It has no influence in sweetening the bitter strife of parties, and in the moral world generally its action is perfectly null.
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Willing is not enough, we must do.
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Yet here I stand poor fool what more, not one wit wiser than before.
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When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place.
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Every man has enough power left to carry out that of which he is convinced.
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He who is plenteously provided for from within needs but little from without.
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And we went our separate ways without having understood each other. As in this world nobody understands the other easily.
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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.
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The present moment is a powerful goddess.
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That we understand something perfectly, that we accomplish something better than anyone else around us, that is what matters.
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There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis.
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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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The present is a powerful deity.
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If one mistreats citizens of foreign countries, one infringes upon one's duty toward one's own subjects; for thus one exposes themto the law of retribution.
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Let us live, while we are alive!
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He who possesses science and art, Possesses religion as well; He who possesses neither of these, Had better have religion.