Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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We are surrounded by abysses, but the greatest of all depths is in our own heart, and an irresistible leaning leads us there. Draw thyself from thyself!
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It is better for you to suffer an injustice than for the world to be without law. Therefore, let everyone submit to the law.
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Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.
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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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The arts are the salt of the earth; as salt relates to food, the arts relate to technology.
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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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Energy is the basis of everything. Every Jew, no matter how insignificant, is engaged in some decisive and immediate pursuit of a goal... It is the most perpetual people of the earth.
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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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Miracle is the pet child of faith.
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Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of Life.
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Energy will do anything that can be done in the world; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities will make a two-legged animal a man without it.
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From desire I plunge to its fulfilment, where I long once more for desire.
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It is in the half fools and the half wise that the greatest danger lies.
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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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It is bad governments, not bad people, who cause revolutions.
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Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
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Every day look at a beautiful picture, read a beautiful poem, listen to some beautiful music, and if possible, say some reasonable thing.
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To quit smoking, you must first want to quit, but then you must also do the quitting.
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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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There speaks the man of truly noble ways, Who will not listen to the words of praise. In modesty averse, and with deaf ears, He acts as though the others were his peers.
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One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.
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People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.
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I am part of the part that once was everything, Part of the darkness which gave birth to light… Mephistopheles, from Faust.