Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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Mathematics can remove no prejudices and soften no obduracy. It has no influence in sweetening the bitter strife of parties, and in the moral world generally its action is perfectly null.
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Nature is, after all, the only book that offers important content on every page.
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Nature does not suffer her veil to be taken from her, and what she does not choose to reveal to the spirit, thou wilt not wrest from her by levers and screws.
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To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone.
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Originality provokes originality.
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Die Welt ist eine Glocke, die einen Riß hat: sie klappert, aber klingt nicht.
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But the valid issue is the extent to which man knows how to form and master the material at his command.
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My worthy friend, gray are all theories And green alone Life's golden tree.
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Man knows himself only insofar as he knows the world, becoming aware of it if only within himself, and of himself self only within it. Each new subject, well observed, opens up within us a new organ of thought.
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The follies of the wise man are known to himself, but hidden from the world.
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Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the measure of man.
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There are but few who have ideas and are, at the same time, capable of action. Ideas enlarge but stymie, action enlivens but confines.
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Don't dissipate your powers; strive to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it will surely repent of every ill-judged outlay.
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The artist has a twofold relation to nature; he is at once her master and her slave.
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The rose is wont with pride to swell, and ever seeks to rise.
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Boldness has power, magic and genius in it.
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Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.
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Battle not with monsters, for then you become one.
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He alone deserves liberty and life who daily must win them anew.
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How can we know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Begin at once to do your duty and immediately you will know what is inside you.
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Paternity is based anyhow only upon conviction: I am convinced, therefore, I am the father.
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Who longs in solitude to live, Ah! soon his wish will gain: Men hope and love, men get and give, and leave him to his pain.
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One doesn't always lose when one has to do without.