"Look closely at those who patronize you...." - Quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.
More by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“But when all is said, the greatest art is to limit and isolate oneself.”
“Men are much more apt to agree in what they do than in what they think.”
“It is commonly the personal character of a writer which gives him his public significance. It is not imparted by his genius. Napoleon said of Corneille, "Were he living I would make him a king;" but he did not read him. He read Racine, yet he said nothing of the kind of Racine.”
More on Judgment
“It has sunk him, I cannot say how much it has sunk him in my opinion. So unlike what a man should be!-None of that upright integrity, that strict adherence to truth and principle, that distain of trick and littleness, which a man should display in every transaction of his life.”
“It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level.”
“We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue.”
More on Character
“The citizen ... preserved the resolute bearing of one who was not to be frowned down or daunted, and who cared very little for any nobility but that of worth and manhood.”
“None but great men are capable of having great flaws.”
“This very certain that each man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank in the immense scale of men, and we are always learning to read it. A complete man should need no auxiliaries to his personal presence.”