Quotes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For in music there is no material to be deducted.

No one can walk beneath palm trees with impunity, and ideas are sure to change in a land where elephants and tigers are at home.

He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew.

He serves me somewhat darkly, now, I grant, Yet will he soon attain the light of reason.

I'm fairly fond of boys, but my preference is for girls; When I have enough of a girl, she serves me still as a boy.

I know what science this has come to be. All rights and laws are still transmitted Like an eternal sickness of the race,— From generation unto generation fitted, And shifted round from place to place. Reason becomes a sham, Beneficence a worry: Thou art a grandchild, therefore woe to thee! The right born with us, ours in verity,

When I go out by the gateway, taking the road I drove along that first time I picked up Lotte for the ball, how very different it all is! It is all over, all of it! There is not a hint of the world that once was, not one bulse-beat of those past emotions. I feel like a ghost returning to the burnt-out ruins of the castle he built in his prime as a prince, which he adorned with magnificent splendours and then, on his deathbed, but full of hope, left to his beloved son

Not Art and Science serve, alone; Patience must in the work be shown. Long is the calm brain active in creation; Time, only, strengthens the fine fermentation.

That which disturbs your soul, you must not suffer

O glücklich, wer noch hoffen kann, aus diesem Meer des Irrtums aufzutauchen! Was man nicht weiß, das eben brauchte man, und was man weiß, kann man nicht brauchen.

This life of earth, whatever my attire, Would pain me in its wonted fashion. Too old am I to play with passion; Too young, to be without desire.

We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavour to efface them.

So give me back that time again, When I was still 'becoming', [185] When words gushed like a fountain In new, and endless flowing, Then for me mists veiled the world, In every bud the wonder glowed, A thousand flowers I unfurled, [190] That every valley, richly, showed. I had nothing, yet enough: Joy in illusion, thirst for truth. Give every passion, free to move, The deepest bliss, filled with pain, [195] The force of hate, the power of love, Oh, give me back my youth again!

Ay de mí! Este vacío, este horrible vacío que siente mi alma... Muchas veces me digo: "Si pudiera un momento, uno solo estrecharla contra mi corazón, todo este vacío se llenaría.

Throughout their whole existence men are blind; So, Faust, be thou like them at last.

God save you, my brethren, with all your -isms and schisms! I am a citizen of the world, and a man of Weimer. I have established myself by culture in this choice society; and if anyone knows a better place, let him go to it.

Exageras tudo e, por certo, cometes pelo menos o erro de aceitar o suicídio, que é do que estamos falando agora, como se fosse uma grande ação, quando não é nada mais do que simplesmente fraqueza. Pois, para ser sincero, é mais fácil morrer do que suportar com firmeza uma vida de tormentos.

All that must disappear Is but a parable; What lay beyond us, here All is made visible; Here deeds have understood Words they were darkened by; The Eternal Feminine Draws us on high.

Oh, I envy you!" he cried. "You are still nourished by yesterday's alms, but yesterday's happiness no longer nourishes me.

It's not for Zeus's daughter to be A prey to common fears, I never feel Chill fingered panic's touch. But the horrors Creeping out of Old Night's womb Since the first beginnings of all things, 8940 With shapes as many as the fiery vapors Billowing from a crater's fiery mouth, Make even heroes' hearts turn faint. When

God of heaven! and is this the destiny of man? Is he only happy before he has acquired his reason, or after he has lost it?

To speak the truth, as truth to me appeared, Caused noisy protests, I was hooted down. Such unpleasant incidents occurred That I ran off so as to be alone, Into the wilds. Utterly forsaken, I took at last the Devil for companion.

Was soll uns denn das ew'ge Schaffen Geschaffenes zu nichts hinwegzuraffen!

Wir Menschen beklagen uns oft, dass der guten Tage so wenig sind und der schlimmen so viel - meist mit Unrecht. Wenn wir immer ein offenes Herz hätten, das Gute zu genießen, das Gott für jeden Tag bereitet, wir würden alsdann auch Kraft genug haben, das Übel zu ertragen, wenn es kommt.