Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.

In art the best is good enough.

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

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

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.

The day is committed to error and floundering; success and achievement are matters of long range

He who moves not forward, goes backward

Nothing hurts a new truth more than an old error

Without haste, but without rest.

Correction does much, but encouragement does more.

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

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

It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.

Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.

A man`s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.

Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves

"Know thyself"? If I knew myself I`d run away

He who does not feel his friends to be the world to him, does not deserve that the world should hear of him.

Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.

Everyone hears only what he understands.

A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.

We can really respect a man only if he doesn`t always look out for himself

In all things it is better to hope than to despair

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

Personality is everything in art and poetry.

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

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.

Man can only endure a certain degree of unhappiness; what is beyond that either annihilates him or passes by him and leaves him apathetic

Then indecision brings its own delays,

The deed is everything, the glory is naught.

The solution of every problem is another problem

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.

Nothing is more revolting than the majority; for it consists of few vigorous predecessors, of knaves who accommodate themselves, of weak people who assimilate themselves, and the mass that toddles after them without knowing in the least what it wants

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

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

Mysteries are not necessarily miracles.

Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.

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

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.

A correct answer is like an affectionate kiss.

Talents are best nurtured in solitude, but character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world

He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

For the nature of women is closely allied to art

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

A collection of anecdotes and maxims is the greatest of treasures for the man of the world, for he knows how to intersperse conversation with the former in fit places, and to recollect the latter on proper occasions

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

Where there are no women there are no good manners

Doubt can only be removed by action.

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

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

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

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

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished

To accept good advice is but to increase one`s own ability

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

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

Everything great and intelligent is in the minority

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