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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes - Page 19

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He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build.

He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasure.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wish, Energy, May

A mind, once formed, is never suited after, One yet in growth will ever grateful be. [Ger., Wer fertig ist, dem ist nichts recht zu machen, Ein Werdender wird immer dankbar sein.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Grateful, Growth, Mind

How circumscribed is woman's destiny!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Destiny
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Anna SWANWICK (1843). “Selections from the Dramas of Goethe and Schiller, Translated, with Introductory Remarks, by Anna Swanwick”, p.2

The eternal feminine draws us on high.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Women, Feminine, Femininity
"Faust: The Second Part of the Tragedy". Book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832.

If man thinks about his physical or moral state he usually discovers that he is ill.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Health, Men, Thinking
Spruche in Prosa Pt 1, Bk II

We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Beautiful, Lying, Men

Don't give us your doubts, gives us your certainties, for we have doubts enough of our own.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Giving, Doubt, Enough

Marriage is the beginning and pinnacle of civilization.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Marriage, Civilization, Pinnacle

To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Strong, Character, Mean
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2013). “Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)”, p.3542, Delphi Classics

Is not the core of nature in the heart of man?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nature, Heart, Men

Few men have imagination enough for reality.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Reality, Men, Imagination

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Believe, Book, Learning

We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Time, Yesterday, Today

You will find the most pronounced hatred of other nations on the lowest cultural levels. There is, though, a level where the hatred disappears completely and where one so to speak stands above the nations and where one experiences fortune or misfortune of a neighboring country as if they had happened to one's own.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Country, Disappear Completely, Hatred

True art can only spring from the intimate linking of the serious and the playful.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Art, Spring, Poetry

Woe to falsehood! it affords no relief to the breast, like truth; it gives us no comfort, pains him who forges it, and like an arrow directed by a god flies back and wounds the archer.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Pain, Archer, Arrows

Yes! to this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true; He only earns his freedom and existence Who daily conquers them anew.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wisdom, Freedom, Persistence
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1912). “Faust”

Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it's the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The Skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Fashion, Hands, Skills

He who does not expect a million readers should not write a line.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Writing, Doe, Lines
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.161, Ravenio Books

Sin writes histories, goodness is silent. [Ger., Das Uebel macht eine Geschichte und das Gute keine.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Writing, History, Sin

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Imagination, Literature, Taste

We cannot and must not get rid of nor deny our characteristics. But we can give them shape and direction.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Giving, Shapes, Deny

The whole history of the Christian Church is a mixture of errors and violence.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Christian, Atheist, Errors

Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wise, Nature, Hate

The eternal female draws us onward.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Female, Draws, Eternal

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