Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes - Page 7

• To have more, you must first be more.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Military, Firsts

  19 Copy quote

• If we examine every stage of our lives, we find that from our first breath to our last we are under the constraint of circumstances. And yet we still possess the greatest of all freedoms, the power of developing our innermost selves in harmony with the moral order of the universe, and so winning peace of heart whatever obstacles we meet.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Heart, Winning, Self

  18 Copy quote

• What is hardest of all? That which seems most simple: to see with your eyes what is before your eyes.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Eye, Simple, Hardest

  44 Copy quote

• A great artist... must be shaken by the naked truths that will not be comforted. This divine discontent, this disequilibrium, this state of inner tension is the source of artistic energy.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Artist, Suffering, Energy

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1949). “Truth and Fantasy from My Life”

  31 Copy quote

• It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Success, Running

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann, Frédéric Jacob Soret (1850). “Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret”, p.65

  14 Copy quote

• If you've never eaten while crying you don t know what life tastes like.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Reality, Inspire

  13 Copy quote

• A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Government, People, Faults

  "Conversations with Goethe". Book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Peter Eckermann, 1836.

  51 Copy quote

• Not all that is presented to us as history has really happened; and what really happened did not actually happen the way it is presented to us; moreover, what really happened is only a small part of all that happened. Everything in history remains uncertain, the largest events as well as the smallest occurrence.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  History, Events, Way

  15 Copy quote

• Words are good, but there is something better. The best cannot be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is the chief matter. Action can only be only understood and represented by the spirit.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Matter, Spirit, Action

  "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship: A Novel".

  21 Copy quote

• I love those who yearn for the impossible.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Love, Philosophy, Life Is Good

  "Faust, Part 2". Book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Act II, "Classical Walpurgis Night", 1832.

  38 Copy quote

• If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Men, Mind, Wish

  67 Copy quote

• Someday perhaps the inner light will shine forth from us, and the we'll need no other light.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Light, Shining, Needs

  87 Copy quote

• Tolerance should really be only a temporary attitude; it must lead to recognition. To tolerate means to offend.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Attitude, Mean, Tolerance

  6 Copy quote

• Do the duty which lies nearest to thee.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Lying, Thee, Duty

  9 Copy quote

• It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Self, Firsts, Favourite

  8 Copy quote

• Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Caring, Individuality, Faults

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2013). “Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)”, p.761, Delphi Classics

  13 Copy quote

• All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Love, Marriage, Being Yourself

  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1949). “The Sorrows of Young Werther”

  26 Copy quote

• It is opposition that makes us productive.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Opposition, Productive

  4 Copy quote

• Riches amassed in haste will diminish; but those collected by hand and little by little will multiply.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Hands, Haste, Littles

  7 Copy quote

• Man must strive, and striving he must err.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Men, Strive

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1973). “Faust”, p.14, Penguin UK

  4 Copy quote

• The misery that oppresses you lies not in your profession but in yourself! What man in the world would not find his situation intolerable if he chooses a craft, an art, indeed any form of life, without experiencing an inner calling? Whoever is born with a talent, or to a talent, must surely find in that the most pleasing of occupations! Everything on this earth has its difficult sides! Only some inner drive - pleasure, love - can help us overcome obstacles, prepare a path, and lift as out of the narrow circle in which others tread out their anguished, miserable existences!

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Art, Lying, Men

  5 Copy quote

• The ideal of beauty is simplicity and tranquility.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Beauty, Simplicity, Tranquility

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1853). “Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art”, p.76

  58 Copy quote

• The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Greatness, Safety, Risk

  16 Copy quote

• The human mind will not be confined to any limits.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Mind, Limits, Humans

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1849). “The Auto-biography of Goethe: The autobiography [etc.] The concluding books. Also Letters from Switzerland and Travels in Italy, tr. by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison”, p.443

  9 Copy quote

• Our destiny often looks like a fruit-tree in winter. Who would think from its pitiable aspect that those rigid boughs, those rough twigs could next spring again be green, bloom, and even bear fruit? Yet we hope it, we know it.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Spring, Winter, Thinking

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2013). “Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)”, p.980, Delphi Classics

  36 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Friedrich Schiller

Heinrich Heine

Friedrich Nietzsche

Lord Byron

William Shakespeare

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Johann Gottfried Herder

Immanuel Kant