Top 25 Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of 1748 - Page 47

On top of the world, or in the depths of despair.

On top of the world, or in the depths of despair.

Despair, Depth, World

A man would create another man if one did not already exist, but a woman might live an eternity without even thinking of reproducing her own sex.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Relationship, Sex, Men

Oh, happy he who still hopes he can emerge from Error's boundless sea! - Faust.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Errors, Sea, Faust

If all these devils really exist it proves there must be angels, too.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Angel, Devil, Prove

What man does not know, Or has not thought of, Wanders in the night Through the labyrinth of the mind.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Night, Men, Mind

Happy contractedness of youth, nay, of mankind in general, that they think neither of the high nor the deep, of the true nor the false, but only of what is suited to their own conceptions.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thinking, Youth, Mankind

Painting predicates what man wants to see, and what man ought to see, not what he ordinarily sees.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Men, Want, Painting

The hardest thing is to see what's under your very eyes.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Eye, Hardest, Hardest Thing

What sort of God would it be, who only pushed from without.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wishes are premonitions of abilities.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wish, Premonition, Ability

The important thing is not to know more than all men, but to know more at each moment than any particular man.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Men, Important, Particular

A phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Inexplicable, Phenomenon, Remains

The nude is the perfect expression of freedom. Freedom to be.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Expression, Perfect

Man knows himself only insofar as he knows the world, becoming aware of it if only within himself, and of himself self only within it. Each new subject, well observed, opens up within us a new organ of thought.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Men, Self, World

I have often reaped what others have sowed. My work is the work of a collective being that bears the name Goethe.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Names, Bears, Collectives

Win for yourself that which your fathers have won.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Father, Winning

Higher yet and higher out of clouds and night, nearer yet and nearer rising to the light - light, serene and holy where my soul may rest, purified and lowly, sanctified and blest.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Night, Clouds, Light

The history of a man is in his character.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Character, Men

Light has called forth one organ to become its like, and thus the eye is formed by the light and for the light so that the inner light may emerge to meet the outer light.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Eye, Light, May

The true poet is called to take in the splendor of the world and for that reason will always be inclined to praise rather than tofind fault.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Poetry, World, Faults

Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Happiness, Running, Laughter

The little that is completed, vanishes from the sight of one who looks forward to what is still to do.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Motivational, Positive, Patience

Die Zeit ist selbst ein Element. Time is itself an element.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Time, Elements, Dies

The flowers of life are but illusions. How many fade away and leave no trace.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Flower, Illusion, Fade Away

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, David E. Wellbery (1988). “The Sorrows of Young Werther ; Elective Affinities ; Novella”, p.38, Princeton University Press