Goethe Quotes

Courage and modesty are the most unequivocal of virtues, for they are of a kind that hypocrisy cannot imitate; they too have this quality in common, that they are expressed by the same color.

Alas! sorrow from happiness is oft evolved.

Since I have heard often enough that everyone in the end has his own religion, nothing seemed more natural to me than to fashion my own.

In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.

I do not speak of what I cannot praise.

Poor fool! in whose petty estimation all things are little.

To appear at church every Sunday; to look down upon, and let himself be looked at for an hour by the congregation, is the best means of becoming popular which can be recommended to a young sovereign.

There are men who never err, because they never propose anything rational.

Thou must (in commanding and winning, or serving and losing, suffering or triumphing) be either anvil or hammer.

A good man, through obscurest aspirations Has still an instinct of the one true way.

And here, poor fool, with all my lore I stand no wiser than before.

No sacred fane requires us to submit to insult.

All sects seem to me to be right in what they assert, and wrong in what they deny.

Duty is the demand of the hour.

But what is your duty? What the day demands. [Ger., Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages.]

What reason would grope for in vain, spontaneous impulse ofttimes achieves at a stroke, with light and pleasureful guidance.

A noble man is led far by woman's gentle words. [Ger., Ein edler Mann wird durch ein gutes Wort Der Frauen weit gefuhrt.]

It is said, that no one is a hero to their butler. The reason is, that it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The butler, however, will probably know well how to estimate his equals.

We will burn that bridge when we come to it.

Love can do much, but duty more.

Nothing should be valued higher than the value of the day.

If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.

The credit of advancing science has always been due to individuals and never to the age.

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.

The effects of good music are not just because it's new; on the contrary music strikes us more the more familiar we are with it.

Every offense is avenged on earth.

Everyone believes in his youth that the world really began with him, and that all merely exists for his sake.

While man's desires and aspirations stir he cannot choose but err.

The field of experience is the whole universe in all directions. Theory remains shut up within the limits of human faculties.

The greatest act of faith takes place when a man finally decides that he is not God.

Self-love exaggerates our faults as well as our virtues.

Come my little one, and give me your hand.

Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.

If the mass of people hesitate to act, strike with swiftly and with boldness, the brave heart that understands and seizes opportunity can everything.

I look upon all four Gospels as thoroughly genuine, for there shines forth from them the reflected splendor of a sublimity proceeding from Jesus Christ.

Who never ate his bread in sorrow, Who never spent the darksome hours Weeping, and watching for the morrow,- He knows you not, ye heavenly Powers.

You acquire a language most readily in the country where it is spoken; you study mineralogy best among miners; and so with everything else.

Out of moderation a pure happiness springs.

Against great advantages in another, there are no means of defending ourselves except love.

Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not.

Yes, I have finally arrived to this Capital of the World! I now see all the dreams of my youth coming to life... Only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.

Power is neither male nor female.

Neither art thou the man to catch the fiend and hold him! [Ger., Du bist noch nicht der Mann den Teufel festzuhalten.

What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; Whats genuine, shall posterity inherit.

Still this planet's soil for noble deeds grants scope abounding.

We are surrounded by abysses, but the greatest of all depths is in our own heart, and an irresistible leaning leads us there. Draw thyself from thyself!

I consider him of no account who esteems himself just as the popular breath may chance to raise him.

The little that is completed, vanishes from the sight of one who looks forward to what is still to do.

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