Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Take life too seriously, and what is it worth? If the morning wake us to no new joys, if the evening bring us not the hopes of new pleasures, is it worth while to dress and undress? Does the sun shine on me today that I may reflect on yesterday? That I may endeavor to foresee and control what can neither be foreseen nor controlled - the destiny of tomorrow?
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There is strong shadow where there is much light.
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Could we perfect human nature, we might also expect a perfect state of things.
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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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The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred...unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
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If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.
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Time is a strange thing. It is a whimsical tyrant, which in every century has a different face for all that one says and does.
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He who possesses science and art, Possesses religion as well; He who possesses neither of these, Had better have religion.
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Life is but a preparation for what there is to come.
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True works of art are a manifestation of the higher laws of nature.
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There is nothing insignificant in the world. It all depends on how one looks at it.
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In art it's not the thinking that does the job, but making.
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We eagerly get hold of a law that serves as a weapon to our passions.
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The follies of the wise man are known to himself, but hidden from the world.
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The Evil One has left, the evil ones remain.
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For the butterfly, mating and propagation involve the sacrifice of life, for the human being, the sacrifice of beauty.
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Cursed Mammon be, when he with treasures To restless action spurs our fate! Cursed when for soft, indulgent leisures, He lays for us the pillows straight.
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The works of Lavoisier and his associates operated upon many of us at that time like the Sun's rising after a night of moonshine: but Chemistry is now betrothed to the Mathematics, and is in consequence grown somewhat shy of her former admirers.
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People are always talking about originality; but what do they mean? As soon as we are born, the world begins to work upon us; and this goes on to the end. And after all, what can we call our own, except energy, strength, and will? If I could give an account of all that I owe to great predecessors and contemporaries, there would be but a small balance in my favor.
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To be loved for what one is, that is the greatest exception. The great majority love in others only what they lend him; their own selves, their version of him.
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What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits.
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Hypotheses are the scaffolds which are erected in front of a building and removedd when the building is completed. They are indispensable to the worker; but the worker must not mistake the scaffolding for the building.
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The solution of every problem is another problem.
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Mastery is often taken for egotism.