Goethe Quotes

It is sometimes essential for a husband and a wife to quarrel - they get to know each other better.

The world remains ever the same.

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

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing

Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.

The coward only threatens when he is safe.

Be always resolute with the present hour. Every moment is of infinite value.

Whatever you can do or dream, begin it.

He is the happiest man who can see the connection between the end and the beginning of life.

Stupidity is without anxiety.

Let no one be like another, yet everyone like the highest. How is this done? Be each one perfect in himself.

The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth. [Ger., Das erste und letzte, was vom Genie gefordert wird, ist Wahreits-Liebe.]

It is a mistake for a taciturn, serious-minded woman to marry a jovial man, but not for a serious-minded man to marry a lighthearted woman.

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

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

By seeking and blundering we learn.

Let no one be ashamed to say yes today if yesterday he said no. Or to say no today if yesterday he said yes. For that is life. Never to have changed-what a pitiable thing of which to boast!

We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.

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

Music is liquid architecture; Architecture is frozen music.

He is happy as well as great who needs neither to obey nor to command in order to be something.

Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.

One is never satisfied with the portrait of a person that one knows.

Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.

He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.

Someone criticized an elderly man for wooing young women. He replied that that was the only way to rejuvenation, which was, afterall, everybody's wish.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.

I can promise to be sincere, but I cannot promise to be impartial.

There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables.

Is it life, I ask, is it even prudence, To bore thyself and bore the students?

What is predestination? Answer: God is more powerful and wiser than we are, therefore he deals with us according to his pleasure.

Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues.

No wise combatant underestimates their antagonist.

Doubt grows with knowledge.

Great thoughts and a pure heart, that is what we should ask from God.

The world is so full of simpletons and madmen, that one need not seek them in a madhouse.

If nature is your teacher, your soul will awaken.

The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything.

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.

I am what I am, so take me as I am!.

Flowers are the beautiful hieroglyphics of nature with which she indicates how much she loves us.

The right man is the one who seizes the moment.

Night is the other half of life, and the better half.

Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest.

Can a sparrow know how a stork feels?

One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.

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