Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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I have always paid attention to the merits of my enemies, and found it an advantage.
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You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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The follies of the wise man are known to himself, but hidden from the world.
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What is now the foliage moving? Air is still, and hush'd the breeze, Sultriness, this fullness loving, Through the thicket, from the trees. Now the eye at once gleams brightly, See! the infant band with mirth Moves and dances nimbly, lightly, As the morning gave it birth, Flutt'ring two and two o'er earth.
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Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
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Conscience is the virtue of the observers not the agents of action.
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War is in truth a disease in which the juices that serve health and maintenance are used for the sole purpose of nourishing something foreign, something at odds with nature.
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People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.
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If only these treasures were not so fragile as they are precious and beautiful.
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If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.
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The important thing is not to know more than all men, but to know more at each moment than any particular man.
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Where a man has a passion for meditating without the capacity of thinking, a particular idea fixes itself fast, and soon creates a mental disease.
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You can put up with everything in this world except not with a long stretch of beautiful days.
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Nothing tells more about the character of a man than the things he makes fun of.
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A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way.
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It is said, that no one is a hero to their butler. The reason is, that it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The butler, however, will probably know well how to estimate his equals.
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Nature is so perfect that the Trinity couldn't have fashioned her any more perfect. She is an organ on which our Lord plays and the devil works the bellows.
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We should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble one another.
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Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
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Paternity is based anyhow only upon conviction: I am convinced, therefore, I am the father.
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Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at once the whole scope of a work according to its merits. Do we not mark in a book passages which seem to have a direct reference to ourselves? Young people especially, who have failed in acquiring a complete cultivation of mind, are roused in a praiseworthy way by brilliant passages.
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I hate every violent overthrow, because as much is destroyed as is gained by it.
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I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.