Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

To be loved for what one is, that is the greatest exception. The great majority love in others only what they lend him; their own selves, their version of him.

Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and — if at all possible — speak a few sensible words.

Alles ist einfacher, als man denken kann, zugleich verschränkter, als zu begreifen ist.

O'er all the hilltops
Is quiet now,
In all the treetops
Hearest thou
Hardly a breath;
The birds are asleep in the trees:
Wait; soon like these
Thou too shalt rest.

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.

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.

The spirits that I summoned up
I now can't rid myself of.

We all of us live upon the past, and through the past we are destroyed.

One never goes so far as when one doesn't know where one is going.

Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.

A burgher may acquire merit; by excessive efforts he may even educate his mind; but his personal qualities are lost, or worse than lost, let him struggle as he will. Since the nobleman, frequenting the society of the most polished, is compelled to give himself a polished manner; since this manner, neither door nor gate being shut against him, grows at last an unconstrained one; since, in court or camp, his figure, his person, are a part of his possessions, and it may be the most necessary part, — he has reason enough to put some value on them, and to show that he puts some.

Am I a god? I see so clearly!

Getting along with women, Knocking around with men, Having more credit than money, Thus one goes through the world.

How often do I lull my seething blood to rest, for you have never seen anything so unsteady, so uncertain, as this heart.

For I have been a man, and that means to have been a fighter.