Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes - Page 11

• And what does really matter? That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking--and these are the sum of all wisdom. . . . Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Moving, Thinking

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1963). “Goethe's world view: presented in his reflections and maxims”

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• To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Literature, Fancy, Conform

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• The Woman-Soul leadeth us upward and on!

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Women, Soul

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bayard Taylor (1950). “Faust, a tragedy”

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• Those who have no hope for a future life are already dead for the present one.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Hope, No Hope, Future Life

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• The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Motivational, Determination, Things In Life

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• By seeking and blundering we learn.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Education, Mistake, Learning

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• In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Nature, Science, Connections

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.162, Ravenio Books

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• This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Softball, Wisdom

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1961). “Faust: part one and sections from part two”

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• All ages have said and repeated that one should strive to know one's self. This is a strange demand which no one up to now has measured up to and, strictly considered, no one should. With all their study and effort, people are directed to what is outside, to the world about them, and they are kept busy coming to know this and to master it to the extent that their purposes require. . . . How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to. And what is your duty? Whatever the day calls for.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Thinking, Self, People

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• We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out discretion, and so disappears the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Letters, Lasts

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1868). “Novels and Tales by Goethe”, p.181

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• To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Thinking, Easy, Threshold

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Carlyle, Henry Duff Traill (1824). “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels”, p.75

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• It is only necessary to grow old to become more charitable and even indulgent. I see no fault committed by others that I have not committed myself.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Time, Age, Faults

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• Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Inspirational, Motivational, Adversity

  Maxims and Reflections (1819)

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• People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Fall, People

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• What we agree with leaves us inactive, but contradiction makes us productive.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Inspirational, Contradiction, Agree

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.221, Ravenio Books

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• Distance... is like futurity. A dim vastness is spread before our souls; the perceptions of our mind are as obscure as those of our vision... But alas! when we have attained our object, when the distant 'there' becomes the present 'here,' all is changed; we are as poor and circumscribed as ever, and our souls still languish for unattainable happiness.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Distance, Soul, Mind

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2017). “The Sorrows of Young Werther (English German Edition, illustrated): Die Leiden des jungen Werther (Englisch Deutsch Ausgabe illustriert)”, p.51, Clap Publishing, LLC.

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• Treat people the way they are and they will stay that way. Treat people the way they can become and they will become that way.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  People, Way, Treats

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• Riches amassed in haste will diminish; but those collected by hand and little by little will multiply.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Hands, Haste, Littles

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• Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Hope, Anticipation

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• Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Strong, Book, Reading

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• The aim of living is life itself.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Aim

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• Reason can never be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular, but reason will always remain the sole property of a few eminent individuals.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Passion, Feelings, May

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• We are our own devils; we drive ourselves out of our Edens.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Eden, Heaven, Devil

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• Do the duty which lies nearest to thee.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Lying, Thee, Duty

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• The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Character, Chiefs, Aim

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