Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
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Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny.
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Young Schopenhauer, a zealous and thorough-going Kantian, tried to explain that light would cease to exist along with the seeing eye. 'What!' he said, according to Schopenhauer's own report, 'looking at him with his Jove-like eyes,'-'You should rather say that you would not exist if the light could not see you?'
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There's nothing clever that hasn't been thought of before - you've just got to try to think it all over again.
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My son, whoever wishes to keep a secret, must hide from us that he possesses one. Self complaisance over the concealed destroys its concealment.
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Yes, I have finally arrived to this Capital of the World! I now see all the dreams of my youth coming to life... Only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.
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I hate all explanations; they who make them deceive either themselves or the other party,-generally both.
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One is never satisfied with a portrait of a person that one knows.
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Die Botschaft hör ich wohl, allein, mir fehlt der Glaube
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O'er all the hilltopsIs quiet now,In all the treetopsHearest thouHardly a breath;The birds are asleep in the trees:Wait; soon like theseThou too shalt rest.
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Die Wahrheit widerspricht unserer Natur, der Irrthum nicht, und zwar aus einem sehr einfachen Grunde: die Wahrheit fordert, daß wir uns für beschränkt erkennen follen, der Irrthum schmeichelt uns. wir seien auf ein- oder die andere Weise unbegränzt.
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Nature! We live in her midst and know her not. She is incessantly speaking to us, but betrays not her secret. We constantly act upon her, and yet have no power over her. Variant: NATURE! We are surrounded and embraced by her: powerless to separate ourselves from her, and powerless to penetrate beyond her.
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The desire to explain what is simple by what is complex, what is easy by what is difficult, is a calamity affecting the whole body of science, known, it is true, to men of insight, but not generally admitted.
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Do not hurry; do not rest.
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Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.
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Getting along with women, Knocking around with men, Having more credit than money, Thus one goes through the world.
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Mysterious in the light of day, nature retains her veil, despite our clamours: That which she does not willingly display cannot be wrenched from her with levers, screws and hammers.
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Superstition is the poesy of practical life; hence, a poet is none the worse for being superstitious.
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To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed That can make life a garden.
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Keep not standing fixed and rooted. Briskly venture, briskly roam.
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Man darf nur alt werden, um milder zu sein; ich sehe keinen Fehler begehen, den ich nicht auch begangen hätte.
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Association with women is the basis of good manners.
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Sceptics are yet the most credulous.
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Once a man's thirty, he's already old,He is indeed as good as dead.It's best to kill him right away.
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The brilliant passes, like the dew at morn; The true endures, for ages yet unborn.