Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes - Page 46

• A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Learning, Men, Trying

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2013). “Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)”, p.3588, Delphi Classics

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• The longer I live, the more it grieves me to see man, who occupies his supreme place for the very purpose of imposing his will upon nature, and freeing himself and his from an outrageous necessity--to see him taken up with some false notion, and doing just the opposite of what he wants to do; and then, because the whole bent of his mind is spoilt, bungling miserably over everything.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Taken, Men, Grieving

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1893). “Maxims and Reflections”, p.32, Library of Alexandria

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• One must keep repeating the Truth.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Truth

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• Human life-everybody lives it, but only to a few is it known.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Life, Human Life, Humans

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• You acquire a language most readily in the country where it is spoken; you study mineralogy best among miners; and so with everything else.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Country, Study, Language

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Stuart Blackie (1883). “The Wisdom of Goethe”, Edinburgh, W. Blackwood

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• Out of moderation a pure happiness springs.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Happiness, Spring, Moderation

  "When did moderate become a political dirty word?" by Bob Greene, www.cnn.com. April 1, 2012.

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• Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Sympathy, Ordinary, Want

  Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1877). “Correspondence Between Schiller and Goethe, from 1794 to 1805”

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• He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Thinking, Doe, Imagine

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• Help me to discover Thy truth, O Lord, and preserve me from those who have already found it

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Helping, Lord, Help Me

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• The highest happiness, the purest joys of life, wear out at last.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Happiness, Joy, Lasts

  "Iphigenia in Tauris". Play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, IV. 5. 9, April 6, 1779.

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• Seize this very minute. What you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Begin it and the work will be completed

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Dream, Minutes, Can Do

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Anster, Harry Clarke (2013). “Faust”, p.27, Courier Corporation

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• True happiness springs from moderation.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Spring, True Happiness, Moderation

  "Die Naturliche Tochter". II. 5. 79, 1803.

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• Colour itself is a degree of darkness.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Darkness, Degrees, Colour

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1840). “Theory of Colours”, p.31

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• Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  World, May, Concern

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• Our earthly ball a peopled garden.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Garden, Balls

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Carlyle, Henry Duff Traill (1824). “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels”, p.24

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• Insofar as he makes use of his healthy senses, man himself is the best and most exact scientific instrument possible. The greatest misfortune of modern physics is that its experiments have been set apart from man, as it were, physics refuses to recognize nature in anything not shown by artificial instruments, and even uses this as a measure of its accomplishments.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Science, Men, Healthy

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• The world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish; the impressions remain flat and unconnected in the soul. Thus they are easily led by the opinions of others, are content to let their impressions be shuffled and rearranged and evaluated differently.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Past, Media, Soul

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Gage (1980). “Goethe on Art”, p.114, Univ of California Press

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• Every decided colour does a certain violence to the eye, and forces the organ to opposition.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Eye, Light, Doe

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2012). “Theory of Colours”, p.14, Courier Corporation

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• What is the true test of character unless it be its progressive development in the bustle and turmoil, in the action and reaction of daily life.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Character, Development, Tests

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1853). “Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art”, p.46

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• I do not speak of what I cannot praise.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Speak, Praise, Speakers

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• Can a sparrow know how a stork feels?

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Compassion, Sparrows, Feels

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• It is natural to man to regard himself as the final cause of creation.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Men, Finals, Causes

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann, Frédéric Jacob Soret (1850). “Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret”, p.347

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• Once you have missed the first buttonhole, you'll never manage to button up.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Opportunity, Buttons, Firsts

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• At bottom, no real object is unpoetical, if the poet knows how to use it properly.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Real, Use, Poet

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.256, Ravenio Books

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• If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party; and so soon as he does that, he is lost as a poet.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Party, Giving, Doe

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann, Frédéric Jacob Soret (1850). “Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret”, p.427

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