Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.
It is after all the greatest art to limit and isolate oneself.
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
The happy do not believe in miracles
Reason can never be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular, but reason will always remain the sole property of a few eminent individuals.
Whatever you do, or dream, begin it now.. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.
Behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows his image.
There has been and always will be plenty of arguments about the usefulness and harm of the spreading of the Bible. In my view the Bible will c...
One man's word is no man's word; we should quietly hear both sides
Everything a human being wants can be divided into four components -- love, adventure, power and fame.
One cannot develop taste from what is of average quality but only from the very best.
We are forced to participate in the games of life before we can possibly learn how to use the options in the rules governing them.
Whenever I hear people talking about "liberal ideas," I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
You will always find [hatred] strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.
Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture.
Artists have a double relationship towards nature: they are her master and her slave at the same time. They are her slave in so far as they mu...
What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.
Never by reflection, but only by doing is self-knowledge possible to one.
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
In the colorful reflection we have what is life.
Oh God, how do the world and heavens confine themselves, when our hearts tremble in their own barriers!
That is the way of youth and life in general: that we do not understand the strategy until after the campaign is over.
