Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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To create something you must be something.
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Most pioneers are at the mercy of doubt at the beginning, whether of their worth, of their theories, or of the whole enigmatic field in which they labour.
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Profoundness, genius, spontaneity, merit, nobility, ingenuity, voice propriety, feeling, discernment, sensibility, good taste, great tone, rightness, courtliness, vivacity, boldness, style, freshness, harmony, perfection, imagination, purity, correctness. The greatest writer of all times. God's most astonishing creation.
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Whenever I hear people talking about liberal ideas, I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive.
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The older we get the more we must limit ourselves if we wish to be active.
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Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach.
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No one can take from us the joy of the first becoming aware of something, the so-called discovery. But if we also demand the honor, it can be utterly spoiled for us, for we are usually not the first. What does discovery mean, and who can say that he has discovered this or that? After all it's pure idiocy to brag about priority; for it's simply unconscious conceit, not to admit frankly that one is a plagiarist.
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The hardest thing is to see what's under your very eyes.
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The world remains ever the same.
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I hate all bungling as I do sin, but particularly bungling in politics, which leads to the misery and ruin of many thousands and millions of people.
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All that is alive tends toward color, individuality, specificity, effectiveness and opacity. All that is done with life inclines toward knowledge, abstraction, generality transfiguration and transparency.
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There is no way to face the great advantages of another person than through love.
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It is the great triumph of genius to make the common appear novel.
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If one has not read the newspapers for some months and then reads them all together, one sees, as one never saw before, how much time is wasted with this kind of literature.
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A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is nothing but a mere magic-lantern show. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of each, and pushing it back to make haste for the next.
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I will listen to anyone's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to yourself.
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The flowers are full of honey, but only the bee finds out the sweetness.
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We always hope, and in all things it is better to hope than to despair.
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Let there be truth between us.
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Austere perseverance, hash and continuous... rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistible greater with time.
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A resolution that is communicated is no longer within thy power; thy attentions become now the plaything of chance; he who would have his commands certainly carried out must take man by surprise.
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To like things like, whatever one may ail; There is certain help.
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He who serves the public is a poor animal; he worries himself to death and no one thanks him for it.
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What is hardest of all? That which seems most simple: to see with your eyes what is before your eyes.