Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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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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Tolerance should really be only a temporary attitude; it must lead to recognition. To tolerate means to offend.
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True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.
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Give shape, artist! don't talk! Your poem be but a breath.
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When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place.
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It is equally a mistake to hold one's self too high, or to rate one's self too cheap.
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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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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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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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To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods.
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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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I have found among my papers a sheet . . . in which I call architecture frozen music.
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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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Mystery is truth's dancing partner.
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The aim of living is life itself.
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A man is not little when he finds it difficult to cope with circumstances, but when circumstances overmaster him.
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The world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish; the impressions remain flat and unconnected in the soul. Thus they are easily led by the opinions of others, are content to let their impressions be shuffled and rearranged and evaluated differently.
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Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
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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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What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner.
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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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The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
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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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Ye great teachers: listen to what you say!