Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Art is constitutive-the artist determines beauty. He does not take it over.
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If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well.
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The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.
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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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Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.
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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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Don't feel guilty if you don't immediately love your stepchildren as you do your own, or as much as you think you should. Everyoneneeds time to adjust to the new family, adults included. There is no such thing as an "instant parent." Actually, no concrete object lies outside of the poetic sphere as long as the poet knows how to use the object properly.
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Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.
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Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions. Its infallibility is nothing but identity. Two times two is not four, but it is just two times two, and that is what we call four for short. But four is nothing new at all. And thus it goes on and on in its conclusions, except that in the higher formulas the identity fades out of sight.
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If all these devils really exist it proves there must be angels, too.
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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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Don't say that you want to give, but go ahead and give! You'll never catch up with a mere hope.
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Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
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It would not be worth your while to reach the age of seventy if all the wisdom of the world were to be foolishness before God.
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It is sometimes essential for a husband and a wife to quarrel - they get to know each other better.
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Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.
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Science arose from poetry... when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.
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If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
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The people rate strength before everything.
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Of the book of books most wondrous is the tender book of love.
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One does not get to know that one exists until one rediscovers oneself in others.
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Solitude is fine when you are at peace with yourself and have something definite to do.
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Everywhere, we learn only from those whom we love.
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To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone.