Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Quotes

They make life unnecessarily difficult for themselves by looking for deep thoughts and ideas everywhere and putting them into everything. just have the courage to
give yourself up to first impressions..don't think all the time that
everything must be pointless if it lacks an abstract thought or idea ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I will say nothing against the course of my existence. But at bottom it has been nothing but pain and burden, and I can affirm that during the whole of my 75 years, I have not had four weeks of genuine well-being. It is but the perpetual rolling of a rock that must be raised up again forever. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

In my dear pine-clad mountains of the Harz There's a pitchlike smell, a smell I favor Most of all, excepting that of sulphur. But here among these Greeks there's not a trace Of anything like that. I'm curious To find out what they use below in their Hell To stoke the fires with, their kind of fuel. DRYAD. I guess you're smart enough in your own country, Abroad you're something less than apt; 8220 Stop thinking home thoughts, try, Sir, to adapt And show due honor to our sacred oak tree. MEPHISTO. What you have lost, that's what you think about, ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The iron hand of necessity commands, and her stern decree is supreme law, to which the gods even must submit. In deep silence rules the uncounselled sister of eternal fate. Whatever she lays upon thee, endure; perform whatever she commands. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Everyone has to work out his own destiny. - Goethe ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The beginning of faith is the beginning of fruitfulness; but the beginning of unbelief, however glittering, is empty. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Insofar as he makes use of his healthy senses, man himself is the best and most exact scientific instrument possible. The greatest misfortune of modern physics is that its experiments have been set apart from man, as it were, physics refuses to recognize nature in anything not shown by artificial instruments, and even uses this as a measure of its accomplishments. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The soul is indestructible and its activity will continue through eternity. It is like the sun, which, to our eyes, seems to set at night; but it has in reality only gone to diffuse its light elsewhere. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I'll see the sprouts in the morning when you wake up from sleep, and with glee look at the way the bright sun, I'll see it ... And then I have no more desire for others the whole day. Everything, everything is covered with these expectations. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Man is a simple being, and however rich, varied, and unfathomable he may be, the cycle of his situations is soon run through. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

One spares old people just as one spares children. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

A purpose you impart is no longer your own. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Live dangerously and you live right. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

There is no higher or purer pleasure than to sit with closed eyes and hear a naturally expressive voice recite ... a play of Shakespeare's. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Try novelties for salesman's bait, For novelty wins everyone. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I treat my heart like a sick child and gratify its every fancy. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

A part of that Power that, always wishing for Evil, only knows how to do Good.

-Mephistopheles ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

When scholars study a thing, they strive to kill it first, if it's alive; then they have the parts and the'be lost the whole, for the link that's missing was the living soul. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Ill-humour resembles indolence: it is
natural to us; but if once we have courage to exert ourselves, we find our work run fresh from our hands, and we experience in the activity from which we shrank a real enjoyment. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The light is there, and colors surround us. However, if there were no light nor colors in our own eye, we wouldn't perceive such things outside of us. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

What matters creative endless toil, When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil? ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

To be active is the primary vocation of man. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Tolerance should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood; it ought to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is to affront him. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Tis order woman seeketh; freedom, man. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

People have a peculiar pleasure in making converts, that is, in causing others to enjoy what they enjoy, thus finding their own likeness represented and reflected back to them. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

On top of the world, or in the depths of despair. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

There is nothing in life so irrational, that good sense and chance may not set it to rights; nothing so rational, that folly and chance may not utterly confound it. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Thank God when he oppresses you, and again when he releases you. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I, for my share, cannot understand," continued she, "how men have made themselves believe that God speaks to us through books and histories. The man to whom the universe does not reveal directly what relation it has to him, whose heart does not tell him what he owes to himself and others, that man will scarcely learn it out of books, which generally do little more than give our errors names. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I am contented, happy, and consequently a bad historian. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

[W]hat counts is that one perceives excellence and dares to give it expression, which sounds little but is in fact a great deal. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the nations one after the other emerge. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

How fair doth Nature
Appear again!
How bright the sunbeams!
How smiles the plain!
The flow'rs are bursting
From ev'ry bough,
And thousand voices
Each bush yields now.
And joy and gladness
Fill ev'ry breast!
Oh earth!-oh sunlight!
Oh rapture blest!
Oh love! oh loved one! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I came across my diary again today, which for some time I have neglected, and I'm astonished how consciously, step by step, I walked into it all. How clearly I have always seen my condition and acted like a child nevertheless, and how clearly I still see now, and still with no sign of a cure. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

True love is love that stays constant for ever, whatever it's fortune; whether requited or scored, filled or sent empty away. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Every individual who is not creative has a negative, narrow, exclusive taste and succeeds in depriving creative being of its energy and life. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The style of writing required in the great world is distinguished by a free and daring grace, a careless security, a fine and sharp polish, a delicate and perfect taste; while that fitted for the people is characterized by a vigorous natural fulness, a profound depth of feeling, and an engaging naivete. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Merely to breathe freely does not mean to live. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Napoleon affords us an example of the danger of elevating one's self to the absolute, and sacrificing everything to the carrying out of an idea. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Does not man lack the force at the very point where he needs it most? And when he soars upward in joy, or sinks down in suffering, is not checked in both, is he not returned again to the dull, cold sphere of awareness, just when he was longing to lose himself in the fullness of the infinite. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

A king there was once reigning, Who had a goodly flea, Him loved he without feigning, As his own son were he! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

What is predestination? Answer: God is more powerful and wiser than we are, therefore he deals with us according to his pleasure. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I possess so much, but my love for her absorbs it all. I possess so much, but without her I have nothing. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

For to give is the business of the rich.
[Lat., Denn Geben ist Sache des Reichen.] ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Impotent hatred is the most horrible of all emotions; one should hate nobody whom one cannot destroy. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The rainbow mirrors human aims and action. Think, and more clearly wilt thou grasp it, seeing Life is but light in many-hued reflection. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The world of reason is to be regarded as a great and immortal being, who ceaselessly works out what is necessary, and so makes himself lord also over what is accidental. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

How marvelous, wide and broad is my Inheritance! Time is my property, my estate is time. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Unlimited activity, of whatever kind, must end in bankruptcy. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

To have your every wish, desire, Wake, regard the glorious light! What holds you bound is a mild power, Sleep's a shell, break out of it! Up, no lagging, boldly does it; Though the crowd doubts and delays, All's possible to a brave spirit 4830 Who sees, and seeing's quick to seize. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The things I know, every man can know, but, oh, my heart is mine alone! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Human beings are much of a muchness. Most spend th greater part of their time working in order to live, and what bit of freedom they are left with makes them so anxious they strive by all available means to be rid of it. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

In art, to express the infinite one should suggest infinitely more than is expressed. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The works of Lavoisier and his associates operated upon many of us at that time like the Sun's rising after a night of moonshine: but Chemistry is now betrothed to the Mathematics, and is in consequence grown somewhat shy of her former admirers. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Lay hold of life with both hands, whenever thou mayest seize it, it is interesting. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It has ever been my fate to give pain to those whose happiness I should have promoted. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

This life, gentlemen, is too short for our souls. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Sweet moonlight, shining full and clear,
Why do you light my torture here?
How often have you seen me toil,
Burning last drops of midnight oil.
On books and papers as I read,
My friend, your mournful light you shed.
If only I could flee this den
And walk the mountain-tops again,
Through moonlit meadows make my way,
In mountain caves with spirits play -
Released from learning's musty cell,
Your healing dew would make me well! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Conscience is the virtue of the observers not the agents of action ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the measure of man. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

He who does not expect a million readers should not write a line. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Our friends show us what we can do; our enemies teach us what we must do. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Once we are lost unto ourselves, everything else is lost to us. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The human race is a monotonous thing. Most people work most of the time in order to live, and the little freedom they have left over frightens them so, that they will do anything to get rid of it. Oh, the regimentation of mankind! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Not like Homer would I write,
Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
Like myself, or not at all. ~ William Allingham

What is my life if I am no longer useful to others. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Music is either sacred or secular. The sacred agrees with its dignity, and here has its greatest effect on life, an effect that remains the same through all ages and epochs. Secular music should be cheerful throughout. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Devote each day to the object then in time and every evening will find something done. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

There are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of great things: strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot of but a few priveledged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

No doubt you are right ... there would be far less suffering amongst mankind if men ... did not employ their imaginations so assiduously in recalling the memory of past sorrow, instead of bearing their present lot with equanimity. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

One errs as long as one strives. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The clever reader who is capable or reading between these lines what does not stand written in them but is nevertheless implied will be able to form some conception. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Every creature aflame as it swims through the night! How sea, how shore's held in a burning embrace! Then let Eros reign with whom all things commence! Hurrah for the ocean! Hurrah for the waves 8770 And their crests with the sacred fire ablaze! Hurrah for the water, hurrah for the fire, Hurrah for their union, so rare, with each other! ALL TOGETHER. Hurrah for the gentle caressing breezes! Hurrah for the caves and their secret recesses! Lift up our voices in praise of the four: Water, fire, earth, and air! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Neither art thou the man to catch the fiend and hold him! [Ger., Du bist noch nicht der Mann den Teufel festzuhalten. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I am the spirit that negates. And rightly so, for all that comes to be Deserves to perish wretchedly; 'Twere better nothing would begin. Thus everything that that your terms, sin, Destruction, evil represent - That is my proper element. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Wisdom lies only in truth. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Every solution of a problem is a new problem. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

All theory is gray, my friend. But forever green is the tree of life. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Austere perseverance, hash and continuous ... rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistible greater with time. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Many hammer all over the wall and believe that with each blow they hit the nail on the head. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Know'st thou yesterday, its aim and reason? Work'st thou will today for worthier things? Then calmly wait the morrow's hidden season, And fear thou not, what hap soe'er it brings ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

A mind, once formed, is never suited after,
One yet in growth will ever grateful be. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If nature is your teacher, your soul will awaken. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The miller believes that all the wheat grows so that his mill keeps running. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I will be lord over myself. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Shame upon him who can look on calmly, and exclaim,
'The foolish girl! she should have waited; she should have
allowed time to wear off the impression; her despair would
have been softened, and she would have found another lover
to comfort her.' One might as well say, 'The fool, to die of a
fever! why did he not wait till his strength was restored, till
his blood became calm? all would then have gone well, and
he would have been alive now. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength, no strength that could not become a defect. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

That which disturbs your soul, you must not suffer ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

As soon as any one belongs to a narrow creed in science, every unprejudiced and true perception is gone. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

These auspicious aspects, which the astrologers subsequently interpreted for me, may have been the causes of my preservation. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe