Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes - Page 18

• When the boy begins to understand that the visible point is preceded by an invisible point, that the shortest distance between two points is conceived as a straight line before it is ever drawn with pencil and paper...the fountain of all thought has been opened to him...the philosopher can reveal him nothing new, as a geometrician he has discovered the basis of all thought.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Distance, Boys, Two

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• Every situation--nay, every moment--is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Inspirational, Art, Philosophy

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.53, Ravenio Books

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• To accept good advice is but to increase one's own ability.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Inspirational, Advice, Criticism

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• God help us -- for art is long, and life so short.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Art, Long, Helping

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• Happy the man who early learns the wide chasm that lies between his wishes and his powers.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Lying, Men, Wish

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• Patriotism corrupts history.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Politics

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1963). “Goethe's world view: presented in his reflections and maxims”

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• No one knows what he is doing so long as he is acting rightly; but of what is wrong one is always conscious.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Long, Acting, Conscious

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• 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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• If you want to get pleasure out of life, you must attach value to the world.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  World, Want, Pleasure

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• Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Destiny, Men, Action

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• But who will dare to speak the truth out clear? The few who anything of truth have learned, And foolishly did not keep truth concealed, Their thoughts and visions to the common herd revealed, Since time began we've crucified and burned

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Vision, Common, Speak

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John R. Williams (1999). “Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy ; with the Unpublished Scenarios for the Walpurgis Night and the Urfaust”, p.167, Wordsworth Editions

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• We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Beautiful, Lying, Men

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• The eternal feminine draws us on high.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Women, Feminine, Femininity

  "Faust: The Second Part of the Tragedy". Book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832.

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• If man thinks about his physical or moral state he usually discovers that he is ill.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Health, Men, Thinking

  Spruche in Prosa Pt 1, Bk II

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• We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Time, Yesterday, Today

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• To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Strong, Character, Mean

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2013). “Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)”, p.3542, Delphi Classics

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• I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Believe, Book, Learning

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• Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it's the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The Skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Fashion, Hands, Skills

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• Is not the core of nature in the heart of man?

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Nature, Heart, Men

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• Marriage is the beginning and pinnacle of civilization.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Marriage, Civilization, Pinnacle

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• Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Hate, Envy, Hatred

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• No man learns to know his inmost nature by introspection, for he rates himself sometimes too low, and often too high, by his own measurement. Man knows himself only by comparing himself with other men; it is life that touches his genuine worth.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Nature, Men

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• Few men have imagination enough for reality.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Reality, Men, Imagination

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• Don't give us your doubts, gives us your certainties, for we have doubts enough of our own.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Giving, Doubt, Enough

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• A state of affairs which leads to daily vexation is not the right state.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Happiness, Vexation

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