Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Publishers are all cohorts of the devil; there must be a special hell for them somewhere.
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The angles even Draw strength from gazing on its glance, Though none its meaning fathom may; The world's unwither'd countenance Is bright as at creation's day.
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Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world.
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The nude is the perfect expression of freedom. Freedom to be.
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In limitations he first shows himself the master,And the law can only bring us freedom.
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Necessity is cruel, but it is the only test of inward strength. Every fool may live according to his own likings.
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We who didn't inherit political power nor are made to acquire riches like nothing better than that which expands and solidifies the power of the spirit.
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Yes, my love, who soever lives, loses, . . . but he also wins.
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There is no outward sign of true courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral foundation.
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Yet through delivery orators succeed, I feel that I am far behind indeed.
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A distracted existence leads us to no goal.
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Belief is not the beginning of knowledge - it is the end.
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To make a young couple love each other, it is only necessary to oppose and separate them.
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The highest cannot be spoken; it can only be acted.
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I am what I am, so take me as I am!.
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Do not, I beg you, look for anything behind phenomena. They are themselves their own lesson.
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The human mind will not be confined to any limits.
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No man learns to know his inmost nature by introspection, for he rates himself sometimes too low, and often too high, by his own measurement. Man knows himself only by comparing himself with other men; it is life that touches his genuine worth.
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Microscopes and telescopes really confuse our minds.
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Whoever strenuously endeavors, him we can rescue.
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Keep not standing fixed and rooted. Briskly venture, briskly roam.
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Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.
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It is with art as with love: How can a man of the world,with all his distractions, keep the inwardness which an artist must possess if he hopes to attain perfection? That inwardness which the spectator must share if he is to understand the work as the artist wishes and hopes... Believe me, talents are like virtues; either you must love them for their own sake or renounce them altogether. And they are only recognized and rewarded when we have practised them in secret, like a dangerous mystery."
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Every spoken word arouses our self-will.