Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Doubt grows with knowledge.
Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.
We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.
Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her.
Since I have heard often enough that everyone in the end has his own religion, nothing seemed more natural to me than to fashion my own
Talent develops in tranquillity, character in the full current of human life.
Tell me what you're laughing at and I shall tell you who you are.
Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.
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.
Only those who must conquer them every day Deserve freedom as well as life.
Only law can give us freedom.
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, who follows blind instinct, strives to duplicate the reality o...
To rule is easy, to govern difficult. Government
What we do not understand we do not possess.
Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable
I do not know everything; still many things I understand.
Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.
Wherever a man may happen to turn, whatever a man may undertake, he will always end up by returning to the path which nature has marked out for him.
When married one has to get into an argument once in a while since in this way one learns about the other.
He who does not expect a million readers should not write a line.
If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes. Change
Knowing is not enough; We must Apply. Willing is not enough; We must Do.
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.
