Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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He who cannot love must learn to flatter.
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The most damaging prejudice consists of banning any kind of investigation of nature.
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There is but one poetry-true poetry.
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We love a girl for very different qualities than understanding. We love her for her beauty, her youth, her mirth, her confidingness, her character, with its faults, caprices and God knows what other inexpressible charms; but we do not love her understanding.
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It would be a lowly art that allowed itself to be understood all at once.
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If nature is your teacher, your soul will awaken.
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The desire to explain what is simple by what is complex, what is easy by what is difficult, is a calamity.
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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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Pity on the person who has become accustomed to seeing in necessity something arbitrary, who ascribes to the arbitrary some sort of reason, and even claims that following that sort of reason has religious value.
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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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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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Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!
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Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
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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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All is born of water; all is sustained by water.
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Battle not with monsters, for then you become one.
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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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In art, the best is good enough.
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Hypotheses are lullabies for teachers to sing their students to sleep.
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There is no better deliverance from the world than through art, and a man can form no surer bond with it.
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Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
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When two men quarrel, who owns the cooler head is the more to blame.
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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.