Top 25 Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of 1748 - Page 33

Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at

Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at once the whole scope of a work according to its merits. Do we not mark in a book passages which seem to have a direct reference to ourselves? Young people especially, who have failed in acquiring a complete cultivation of mind, are roused in a praiseworthy way by brilliant passages.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Book, People, Mind

He is dead in this world who has no belief in another.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

World, Belief, This World

If society gives up the right to impose the death penalty, then self-help will appear again and personal vendettas will be around the corner.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Giving Up, Self, Helping

Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Beauty, Nature, Reflection

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.238, Ravenio Books

Moral epochs have their course as well as the seasons. We can no more hold them fast than we can hold sun, moon, and stars. Our faults perpetually return upon us; and herein lies the subtlest difficulty of self-knowledge.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Stars, Lying, Moon

A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is nothing but a mere magic-lantern show. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of each, and pushing it back to make haste for the next.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Love, Life, Magic

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Art, Vision, Spirit

We must not hope to be mowers, And to gather the ripe gold ears, Unless we have first been sowers And water the furrows with tears. It is not just as we take it, This mystical world of ours, Life's field will yield as we make it A harvest of thorns or of flowers.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Life, Flower, Yield

Mannerism always wants to be finished and doesn't enjoy the process. Genuine, truly great talent, however, finds its greatest satisfaction in the production.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Want, Satisfaction, Talent

A lot of people do not care about your money until nearly penniless. They also do so with time

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

People, Care

I don't know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

War, Appreciate, Enemy

He who has art and science also has religion, but those who do not have them better have religion.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Art, Science, Religion

What I possess, seems far away to me, and what is gone becomes reality.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Reality, Gone, Far Away

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1963). “Goethe's Faust: part one and sections from part two”, Anchor

I must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge to action, inventiveness, performance, order all alternate and keep their orbit; cheerfulness, vigor, energy, flexibility and fatigue, serenity as well as desire. Nothing disturbs the cycle for I lead a simple life, but I must still find the time and order in which I rotate.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Life, Bad Day, Passion

The mob has nothing to lose, everything to gain.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Gains, Nothing To Lose, Loses

Do you want to live happily? Travel with two bags, one for giving, the other for receiving.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Two, Giving, Receiving

Give me those days with heart in riot, The depths of bliss that touched on pain, The force of hate, and love's disquiet- Ah, give me back my youth again!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Pain, Hate, Heart

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1984). “Faust”