Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About Mankind

• No doubt you are right... there would be far less suffering amongst mankind if men... did not employ their imaginations so assiduously in recalling the memory of past sorrow, instead of bearing their present lot with equanimity.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Memories, Past, Men

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2006). “The Sorrows of Young Werther”, p.1, Mondial

• Every man must form himself as a particular being, seeking, however, to attain that general idea of which all mankind are constituents.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Character, Men, Ideas

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (1949). “Words of Goethe: being the conversations of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”

• Man is a simple being, and however rich, varied, and unfathomable he may be, the cycle of his situations is soon run through.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Running, Simple, Men

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.158, Ravenio Books

• I always seek the good that is in people and leave the bad to Him who made mankind and knows how to round off the corners.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  People, Made, Mankind

• Happy contractedness of youth, nay, of mankind in general, that they think neither of the high nor the deep, of the true nor the false, but only of what is suited to their own conceptions.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Thinking, Youth, Mankind

• When young, one is confident to be able to build palaces for mankind, but when the time comes one has one's hands full just to be able to remove their trash.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Hands, Able, Palaces

  Letter to Johann Kaspar Lavatar, March 06, 1780.

• Poetry is the universal possession of mankind, revealing itself everywhere, and at all times, in hundreds and hundreds of men.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Men, Revealing, Mankind

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.211, Ravenio Books

• Mankind? That is an abstraction. There have always been and always will be only individuals.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Individual, Mankind, Abstraction

• We can most safely achieve truly universal tolerance when we respect that which is characteristic in the individual and in nations, clinging, though, to the conviction that the truly meritorious is unique by belonging to all of mankind.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Unique, Tolerance, Individual

• Superstition belongs to the essence of mankind and takes refuge, when one thinks one has suppressed it completely, in the strangest nooks and crannies; once it is safely ensconced there, it suddenly reappears.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Thinking, Essence, Superstitions

• Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Men, Littles, Merit

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1924). “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels”, p.428, Library of Alexandria

• Without my attempts in natural science, I should never have learned to know mankind such as it is. In nothing else can we so closely approach pure contemplation and thought, so closely observe the errors of the senses and of the understanding, the weak and strong points of character.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Strong, Character, Errors

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.346, Ravenio Books

• The history of mankind is his character.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Character, History, Historical

• We should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble one another.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Should, Anxious, Mankind

• He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasure.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Wish, Energy, May

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