Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes - page 23

I have learned much from disease which life could have never taught me anywhere else. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
There is no trifling with nature, it is always true, grave, and severe, it is always in the right, and the faults and errors fall to our share. It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In happy ignorance, I sighed for a world I did not know, where I hoped to find every pleasure and enjoyment which my heart could desire; and now, on my return from that wide world... how many disappointed hopes and unsuccessful plans have I brought back! View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Does not man lack the force at the very point where he needs it most? And when he soars upward in joy, or sinks down in suffering, is not checked in both, is he not returned again to the dull, cold sphere of awareness, just when he was longing to lose himself in the fullness of the infinite. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of getting burned. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I don't know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
No one should be rich except those who understand it. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Tolerance comes of age. I see no fault committed that I myself could not have committed at some time or other. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Without haste without rest Bind the motto to thy breast Bear it with thee as a spell Storm or sunshine, guard it well. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
The history of mankind is his character. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
All one needs to do is declare oneself free and one will immediately feel dependent. If you dare to declare yourself dependent, you feel independent. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Our virtues and vices spring from one root. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself step by step. To have seen my position so clearly, and yet to have acted so like a child! View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I examine my own being, and find there a world, but a world rather of imagination and dim desires, than of distinctness and living power. Then everything swims before my senses, and I smile and dream while pursuing my way through the world. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Great endowments often announce themselves in youth in the form of singularity and awkwardness. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Since time is not a person we can overtake when he is past, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Rejoice that you have still have a long time to live, before the thought comes to you that there is nothing more in the world to see. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Austere perseverance, hash and continuous... rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistible greater with time. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Take life too seriously, and what is it worth If the morning wake us to no new joys, if the evening bring us not the hopes of new pleasures, is it worth while to dress and undress Does the sun shine on me today that I may reflect on yesterday That I may endeavor to foresee and control what can neither be foreseen nor controlled the destiny of tomorrow. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out discretion, and so disappears the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The close and thoughtful observer more and more learns to recognize his limitations. He realizes that with the steady growth of knowledge more and more new problems keep on emerging. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nature is, after all, the only book that offers important content on every page. View quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe