Quotes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If we examine every stage of our lives, we find that from our first breath to our last we are under the constraint of circumstances. And yet we still possess the greatest of all freedoms, the power of developing our innermost selves in harmony with the moral order of the universe, and so winning peace of heart whatever obstacles we meet.

An unused life is an early death.

Colors are the deeds/ and sufferings of light.

The more one knows, the more one comprehends, the more one realizes that everything turns in a circle.

Divide and rule, the politician cries; Unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want.

Talent develops in tranquility, character in the full current of human life.

Love grants in a moment what toil can hardly achieve in an age.

W]hat counts is that one perceives excellence and dares to give it expression, which sounds little but is in fact a great deal.

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honour or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

Es ist nicht genug, zu wissen, man muß auch anwenden; es ist nicht genug, zu wollen, man muß auch tun.

Please send me your last pair of shoes, worn out with dancing as you mentioned in your letter, so that I might have something to press against my heart.

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

If ever I to the moment shall say: Beautiful moment, do not pass away! Then you may forge your chains to bind me, Then I will put my life behind me, Then let them hear my death-knell toll, Then from your labours you'll be free, The clock may stop, the clock-hands fall, And time come to an end for me!

An angel! Nonsense! Everybody so describes his mistress; and yet I find it impossible to tell you how perfect she is, or why she is so perfect: suffice it to say she has captivated all my senses.

I am part of the part that once was everything, Part of the darkness which gave birth to light… Mephistopheles, from Faust.

Let's plunge ourselves into the roar of time, the whirl of accident; may pain and pleasure, success and failure, shift as they will -- it's only action that can make a man.

You must be either the servant or the master, the hammer or the anvil.

The really unhappy person is the one who leaves undone what they can do, and starts doing what they don't understand; no wonder they come to grief.

Grant me one hour on love's most sacred shores To clasp the bosom that my soul adores, Lie heart to heart and merge my soul with yours.

Nothing is worse than active ignorance.

When scholars study a thing, they strive To kill it first, if its alive; Then they have the parts and they've lost the whole For the link that's missing was the living soul.

Tolerance should really only be a passing attitude: it should lead to appreciation. To tolerate is to offend.

And I like those authors best whose scenes describe my own situation in life-- and the friends who are about me whose stories touch me with interest, from resembling my own homely existence.