Goethe Quotes

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.]

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.

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

Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.

Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world.

Yet he who grasps the moment's gift, He is the proper man.

What in us the women leave uncultivated, children cultivate when we retain them near us.

My peace is gone, my heart is heavy. [Ger., Meine Ruh ist hin, Mein Herz ist schwer.]

Only the heart without a stain knows perfect ease. [Ger., Ganz unbefleckt geniesst sich nur das Herz.]

A wounded heart can with difficulty be cured. [Ger., Doch ein gekranktes Herz erholt sich schwer.]

When I err every one can see it, but not when I lie. [Ger., Wenn ich irre kann es jeder bemerken; wenn ich luge, nicht.]

A well-bred carriage is difficult to imitate; for in strictness it is negative, and it implies a long-continued previous training.

The trouble is small, the fun is great. [Ger., Die Muh'ist klein, der Spass ist gross.]

If thou wouldst hear what seemly is and fit, inquire of noble woman; they can tell, who in life's common usage hold their place by graceful deed and aptly chosen word.

Smoothly and lightly the golden seed by the furrow is covered.

The mortal race is far too weak not to grow dizzy on unwonted brights. [Ger., Das sterbliche Geschlecht ist viel zu schwach In ungewohnter Hohe nicht zu schwindeln.]

Oh, happy he who still hopes he can emerge from Error's boundless sea! - Faust.

We learn to treasure what is above this earth; we long for revelation, which nowhere burns more purely and more beautifully than in the New Testament.

Our hands we open of our own free will, and the good flies, which we can never recall.

Man believes himself always greater than he is, and is esteemed less than he is worth.

No wonder we are all more or less pleased with mediocrity, since it leaves us at rest, and gives the same comfortable feeling as when one associates with his equals.

The miller imagines that the corn grows only to make his mill turn.

The march of intellect, which licks all the world into shape, has even reached the devil.

Lamps make oil-spots and candles need snuffing; it is only the light of heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.

Faust: Who holds the devil, let him hold him well, He hardly will be caught a second time.

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