Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but is sure to repent of every ill-judged outlay
Genius is formed in quiet, character in the stream of human life
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, Begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.
Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but is sure to repent of every ill-judged outlay.
Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.
Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
While man's desires and aspirations stir he cannot choose but err.
What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.
When you take a man as he is, you make him worse. When you take a man as he can be, you make him better.
When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place.
When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.
Deny yourself! You must deny yourself! That is the song that never ends.
Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.
Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any; but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own.
The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art. Art
For the nature of women is closely allied to art
Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again.
Because everyone uses language to talk, everyone thinks he can talk about language.
In politics people throw themselves, as on a sickbed, from one side to the other in the belief they will lie more comfortably.
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
To accept good advice is but to increase one's own ability
Everything has been thought of before, but the difficulty is to think of it again
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
Treat people as if they were what they should be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming.
