Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotations

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

I love those who yearn for the impossible.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive.

Oh how sweet it is to hear one's own convictions from another's lips.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.

The human mind will not be confined to any limits.

Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.

For just when ideas fail, a word comes in to save the situation.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

The coward only threatens when he is safe.

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

The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.

Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.

Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.

We will burn that bridge when we come to it.

If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.

If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.

Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public.

If I love you, what business is it of yours?

Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.

To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

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

It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.

Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.

Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.

It is better to be deceived by one's friends than to deceive them.

There is nothing insignificant in the world. It all depends on the point of view.

The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.

Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.

Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at.

If you start to think of your physical and moral condition, you usually find that you are sick.

Great thoughts and a pure heart, that is what we should ask from God.

Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.

Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.

We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

Every step of life shows much caution is required.

He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy.

To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.

All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.

All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.

Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be.

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

All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.

The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.

A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.

Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.

Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.

No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.

The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.

Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.

There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.

Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?

A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.

One cannot develop taste from what is of average quality but only from the very best.

The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principal part.

Talk well of the absent whenever you have the opportunity.

What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.

A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.