Goethe Quotes

You must either conquer and rule or serve and lose, suffer or triumph, be the anvil or the hammer

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words

The greatest thing a man can do is to be willing to risk everything for the truth

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe

Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is

Character develops itself in the stream of life

A useless life is an early death

There is strong shadow where there is much light

He who does not think for himself does not think at all

He to whom God gives no bread, the devil gives crusts

Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us

If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become

We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden

Nothing is worth more than this day

Divide and rule, a sound motto; unite and lead, a better one

We must always strive to find the best possible in every living thing

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him

A talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life

The soul is tested by its reaction to the beautiful

Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen

The world is governed by opinion

A person hears only what they understand

He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth

Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must

In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it

Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image

There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children—one is roots, the other, wings

I call architecture frozen music

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone

Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love

We are never further from what we wish than when we imagine that we have what we wished for

Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at

By seeking and blundering we learn

To live in the idea means treating the impossible as possible

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days

Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality

To create something, you must be something

The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes

Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth

All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again

Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children

A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise

Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths

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

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves

Correction does much, but encouragement does more

The deed is everything, the glory naught

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden

He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew

Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess

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

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it

Words are not much when the thing is untranslatable. When the soul is moved to express itself, even a stammer may say more than all the eloquence of the world

The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart

Tell me with whom you consort, and I will tell you who you are

He who moves not forward, goes backward

Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction

Doubt grows with knowledge

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free

Light, more light

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words