Quotes by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von




Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 - 22 March 1832), commonly known as "Goethe", was a German poet, novelist, philosopher, and scientist who is considered one of the giants of the literary world. In addition, aside from being lawyer and known also as a dramatist, humanist, theorist, and painter, he is also one of few individuals considered to have been a polymath. For ten years, he was chief minister of state for the duchy of Weimar. In 1782 he was ennobled as 'von Goethe'. In his 1809 masterpiece Elective Affinities, he became one of the first to speculate on the nature of interpersonal chemistry. Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides with Enlightenment, Sentimentality ("Empfindsamkeit"), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of Faust and Theory of Colours, he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a primary source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry, and philosophy. He is widely considered to be one of the most important thinkers in Western culture..

"What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on change    Share


"Human beings, by change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on change    Share

"Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on change
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"Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on character    Share

"Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on character
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"Character develops itself in the stream of life."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on character    Share

"The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on character    Share

"Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on character    Share

"Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on character    Share

"Superstition is the poetry of life."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on superstition    Share

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on sympathy
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"Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on talent
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"A really great talent finds its happiness in execution."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on talent    Share

"What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on work    Share

"Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on thoughts and thinking
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"All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on thoughts and thinking    Share

"Thought expands, but paralyzes; action animates, but narrows."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on thoughts and thinking    Share

"Nothing is to be rated higher than the value of the day."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on time    Share

"We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on time
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"One always has time enough, if one will apply it well."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on time
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"Traveling is like gambling: it is always connected with winning and losing, and generally where it is least expected we receive, more or less than what we hoped for."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on travel    Share

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on trust
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"It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on truth
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"Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on understanding    Share

"To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed -- That can make life a garden."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on understanding
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"The man of understanding finds everything laughable."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on understanding
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"So long as you live and work, you will be misunderstood; to that you must resign yourself once and for all. Be silent!"

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on understanding
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"Some of our weakness is born in us, some of it comes through education; it is a big question as to which gives us the most trouble."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on weakness
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"No one should be rich except those who understand it."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on wealth    Share

"The wealth that cannot be administered is a burden."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on wealth    Share

"Those that are firm in their will mold the world to themselves."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on power
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"He who is firm in will molds the world to himself."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on power    Share

"Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on wisdom    Share

"This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on wisdom
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"Wisdom is found only in truth."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on wisdom
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"We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on wish and wishing
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"The Woman-Soul leadeth us upward and on!"

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on women    Share

"Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on words
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"Every spoken word arouses our self-will."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on words
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"When ideas fail, words come in very handy."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on words    Share

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