Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poet Quotations

The poet should size the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal

The poet should seize the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal.

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

Whoever would understand the poet Must go into the poet's country. [Ger., Wer den Dichter will verstehen Muss in Dichters Lande gehen.]

We are pantheists as natural scientists, polytheists as poets, and monotheists as moral beings.

Superstition is the poesy of practical life; hence, a poet is none the worse for being superstitious.

Shakespeare is dangerous to young poets; they cannot but reproduce him, while they fancy that they produce themselves.