Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Inspirational Quotations

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

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.

There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.

Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.

At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you.

Lay hold of life with both hands, whenever thou mayest seize it, it is interesting.

As long as you don't practice it, this dying and becoming, You are only a dreary guest on this dark earth.

Then to the depths! - I could as well say height: It's all the same.

If the mass of people hesitate to act, strike with swiftly and with boldness, the brave heart that understands and seizes opportunity can everything.

Everyone is deceived in his hopes, cheated in his expectations.

Do not hurry; do not rest.

Keep not standing fixed and rooted. Briskly venture, briskly roam.

Every situation--nay, every moment--is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.

To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state.

People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.

In the colorful reflection we have what is life.

The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.

A clever man commits no minor blunders.

There are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of great things: strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.

The greatest genius will not be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources

Everything that we encounter leaves traces behind. Everything contributes imperceptibly to our education

One mind is enough for a thousand hands.

Properly speaking, such work is never finished; one must declare it so when, according to time and circumstances, one has done one's best.

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.

Everything is hard before it is easy

Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.

It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before us

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

A useless life is an early death.

Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days... What you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.

What we agree with leaves us inactive, but contradiction makes us productive.

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.

Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them.

Correction does much, but encouragement does more.

Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success.