Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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One doesn't always lose when one has to do without.
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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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Originality provokes originality.
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No one is more of a slave than he who thinks himself free without being so.
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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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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.
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To know where a thing is we must have found it.
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Yet here I stand poor fool what more, not one wit wiser than before.
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A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it.
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I don't know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy.
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What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.
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In art, the best is good enough.
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What is the true test of character unless it be its progressive development in the bustle and turmoil, in the action and reaction of daily life.
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Since I have heard often enough that everyone in the end has his own religion, nothing seemed more natural to me than to fashion my own.
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It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.
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The present is a powerful deity.
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Paternity is based anyhow only upon conviction: I am convinced, therefore, I am the father.
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The greater the knowledge, the greater the doubt.
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Those that are firm in their will mold the world to themselves.
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All theory, my friend, is grey, But green is life's glad golden tree.
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One does not get to know that one exists until one rediscovers oneself in others.
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Normally, people believe that, if they hear just words, that these words must lead to some thought.
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Boldness has power, magic and genius in it.
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True love is love that stays constant for ever, whatever it's fortune; whether requited or scored, filled or sent empty away.