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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

51 quotes

Selected quotes · 51
01
Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFaith
02
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFreedom
03
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheSuccess
04
Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLove
05
I love those who yearn for the impossible.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLove
06
Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLove
07
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
08
Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMindset
09
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheCreativity
10
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheSuccess
11
We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
12
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLife
13
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFreedom
14
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheAction
15
The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFreedom
16
The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use, finds his greatest happiness in using it.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHappiness
17
The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use, finds his greatest happiness in using it.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHappiness
18
We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheTime
19
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.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheNature
20
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 GoetheTime
21
Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHappiness
22
Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheHappiness
23
In art the best is good enough.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheCreativity
24
Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
25
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.
Johann Wolfgang von GoethePhilosophy
26
Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLove
27
The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
28
Character develops itself in the stream of life.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheGrowth
29
The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFaith
30
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLove
31
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFreedom
32
If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheCreativity
33
Everything in the world may be endured except continual prosperity.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheResilience
34
What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLife
35
Personality is everything in art and poetry.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheAction
36
If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFreedom
37
The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheCreativity
38
Age merely shows what children we remain.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
39
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJustice
40
Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
41
Life is the childhood of our immortality.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLife
42
The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheGrowth
43
Wisdom is found only in truth.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJustice
44
A useless life is an early death.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLife
45
It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheCourage
46
Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
47
It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheCourage
48
Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
49
This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFreedom
50
In all things it is better to hope than to despair
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWisdom
51
The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheFaith