Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

“As for solitude, I cannot understand how certain people seek to lay claim to intellectual stature, nobility of soul and strength of character, yet have not the slightest feeling for seclusion; for solitude, I maintain, when joined with a quiet contemplation of nature, a serene and conscious faith in creation and the Creator, and a few vexations from outside is the only school for a mind of lofty endowment.”

“The person of analytic or critical intellect finds something ridiculous in everything. The person of synthetic or constructive intellect, in almost nothing.”

“This world could not exist if it were not so simple. The ground has been tilled a thousand years, yet its powers remain ever the same; a little rain, a little sun, and each spring it grows green again.”

“Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others.”

“He is happy as well as great who needs neither to obey nor to command in order to be something.”

“Truth is a torch, but a terrific one; therefore we all try to reach it with closed eyes, lest we should be scorched.”

“The beautiful is a phenomenon which is never apparent of itself, but is reflected in a thousand different works of the creator.”

“Oh how sweet it is to hear one's own convictions from another's lips.”

“Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom, Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose!”

“It is sometimes essential for a husband and a wife to quarrel - they get to know each other better.”

“What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.”

“It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.”

“In all times it is only individuals that have advanced science, not the age.”

“The greater the knowledge, the greater the doubt.”

“Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.”

“Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen.He who is ignorant of foreign languages, knows not his own.”

“Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.”

“In the colored reflection we have Life.”

“Distrust those in whom the desire to punish is strong.”

“Passions are vices or virtues to their highest powers.”

“The suffering may be moral or physical; and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys himself, as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever.”

“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.”

“Every day look at a beautiful picture, read a beautiful poem, listen to some beautiful music, and if possible, say some reasonable thing.”

“The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.”

“All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast.”