"There are but few who have ideas..." - Quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
There are but few who have ideas and are, at the same time, capable of action. Ideas enlarge but stymie, action enlivens but confines.
More by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“What am I then...? Everything that I have seen, heard, and observed I have collected and exploited. My works have been nourished by countless different individuals, by innocent and wise ones, people of intelligence and dunces. Childhood, maturity and old age all have brought me their thoughts....their perspectives on life. I have often reaped what others have sowed. My work is the work of a collective being that bears the name Goethe.”
“The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.”
“Mere curiosity adds wings to every step.”
More on Action
“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”
“Get up, and set your shoulder to the wheel - How long is this life for? As you have come into this world, leave some mark behind. Otherwise, where is the difference between you and the trees and stones? They too come into existence, decay and die.”
“Well, the first thing we do is take our brain out and put it in a drawer. Stick it somewhere and let it tantrum until it wears itself out. You may still hear the brain and all the shitty things it is saying to you, but it will be muffled, and just the fact that it is not in your head anymore will make things seem clearer. And then you just do it.”
More on Ideas
“Don't ask who said it? Ask what they said.”
“A rush of thoughts is the only conceivable prosperity that can come to us.”
“Kant was probably the worst writer ever heard of on earth before Karl Marx. Some of his ideas were really quite simple, but he always managed to make them seem unintelligible. I hope he is in Hell.”