Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

“He who does not see the whole world in his friends, does not deserve that the world should hear of him.”

“Wood burns because it has the proper stuff for that purpose in it; and a man becomes renowned because he has the necessary stuff in him. Renown is not to be sought, and all pursuit of it is vain. A person may, indeed, by skillful conduct and various artificial means, make a sort of name for himself; but if the inner jewel is wanting, all is vanity, and will not last a day.”

“It is better for you to suffer an injustice than for the world to be without law. Therefore, let everyone submit to the law.”

“Architecture is frozen music.[Ger., Die Backunst ist eine erstarrte Musik.]”

“The useful may be trusted to further itself, for many produce it and no one can do without it; but the beautiful must be specially encouraged, for few can present it, while yet all have need of it.”

“There are few who have at once thought and capacity for action. Thought expands, but lames; action animates, but narrows.”

“If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.”

“Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues.”

“One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.”

“Beware of a man of one book.”

“No one as ever completed their apprenticeship.”

“To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome.”

“Let no one be like another, yet everyone like the highest. How is this done? Be each one perfect in himself.”

“The world only goes forward because of those who oppose it.”

“None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes.”

“To have more, you must first be more.”

“Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.”

“Perseverance is a silent power that grows irresistibly greater with time.”

“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.”

“One does not get to know that one exists until one rediscovers oneself in others.”

“It is always a sign of an unproductive time when it concerns itself with petty and technical aspects [in philology], and likewiseit is a sign of an unproductive person to pursue such trifles.”

“To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.”

“Still this planet's soil for noble deeds grants scope abounding.”

“Confronted by outstanding merit, there is no way of saving one's ego except by love”

“We don't get to know anything but what we love.”