Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Just trust yourself and you'll learn the art of living.
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Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.
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Let no one be ashamed to say yes today if yesterday he said no. Or to say no today if yesterday he said yes. For that is life. Never to have changed-what a pitiable thing of which to boast!
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Do the duty which lies nearest to thee.
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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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If a man knows where to get good advice, it is as though he could supply it himself.
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Nothing is more consonant with Nature than that she puts into operation in the smallest detail that which she intends as a whole.
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Noble be man, helpful and good!
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Everywhere, we learn only from those whom we love.
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As long as you are not aware of the continual law of Die and Be Again, you are merely a vague guest on a dark Earth.
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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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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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To every one Nature appears in a form of his own. She hides herself in a thousand names and terms, and is always the same.
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We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out discretion, and so disappears the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.
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Thus one can observe that those who proclaim piety as their goal and purpose usually turn into hypocrites.
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Mastery is often taken for egotism.
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Daily life is more instructive than the most effective book.
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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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Yet here I stand poor fool what more, not one wit wiser than before.
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Humans fear reason, but they ought to fear stupidity- for reason can be hard, but stupidity can be fatal.
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To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone.
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No two people see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will often apply the same principle, recognized by both, differently. Even one and the same person won't always maintain the same views and judgments: earlier convictions must give way to later ones.
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Every bird has its decoy, and every man is led and misled in his own peculiar way.
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The present is a powerful deity.