Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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It makes no good to point the failures out without showing at the same time the remedy to address them.
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As man is, so is his God. And thus is God oft strangely odd.
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The loss of a much-prized treasure is only half felt when we have not regarded its tenure as secure.
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Still this planet's soil for noble deeds grants scope abounding.
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Know'st thou yesterday, its aim and reason? Work'st thou will today for worthier things? Then calmly wait the morrow's hidden season, And fear thou not, what hap soe'er it brings.
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Age childish makes, they say, but 'tis not true; We're only genuine children still in Age's season. [Ger., Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht, Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder.]
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An absent friend gives us friendly company when we are well assured of his happiness.
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All professional men are handicapped by not being allowed to ignore things which are useless.
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God could cause us considerable embarrassment by revealing all the secrets of nature to us: we should not know what to do for sheer apathy and boredom.
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Noble be man, helpful and good!
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Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want.
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Our destiny often looks like a fruit-tree in winter. Who would think from its pitiable aspect that those rigid boughs, those rough twigs could next spring again be green, bloom, and even bear fruit? Yet we hope it, we know it.
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Secrecy has many advantages, for when you tell someone the purpose of any object right away, they often think there is nothing to it.
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Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.
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We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavor to erase them.
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What government is the best? That which teaches us to govern ourselves. [Ger., Welche Regierung die beste sei? Diejenige die uns lehrt uns selbst zu regieren.]
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The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.
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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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Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.
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If nature is your teacher, your soul will awaken.
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He who can not learn to love must flatter.
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Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.
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Taste is only to be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good but of the truly excellent.
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As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more potent, in which most men live.