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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

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Famous Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

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

MayIdeasMotivationalActionScienceGamesWinningCreativityCourageInnovationMovedDareChessCleverMoving ForwardDaringBeatenBe CreativeNew BeginningsGreat IdeaCreativity And InnovationChess GameOriginal IdeasBusiness InnovationInnovation And BusinessIdeas And CreativityInspire CreativityIdeas And InnovationPower Of IdeasBusiness IdeasInspirational WinningI Will WinMotivation To WinWinning InspirationalMotivational WinningWinning MotivationalWinning GamesIdeas And ActionCreative Team
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“Wood burns because it has the proper stuff for that purpose in it; and a man becomes renowned because he has the necessary stuff in him. Renown is not to be sought, and all pursuit of it is vain. A person may, indeed, by skillful conduct and various artificial means, make a sort of name for himself; but if the inner jewel is wanting, all is vanity, and will not last a day.”

IfsMenMayMeanPersonsLastsPurposeNamesStuffGloryVariousWoodsPursuitVanityVainArtificialJewelsSkillfulRenownRenowned
Book:Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret
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“When we see the many grave-stones which have fallen in, which have been defaced by the footsteps of the congregation, which lie buried under the ruins of the churches, that have themselves crumbled together over them; we may fancy the life after death to be as a second life, into which man enters in the figure, or the picture or the inscription, and lives longer there than when he was really alive. But this figure also, this second existence, dies out too, sooner or later. Time will not allow himself to be cheated of his rights with the monuments of men or with themselves.”

MenMayHas BeensTogetherLyingDiesChurchExistenceAliveRightsFiguresHe ManStonesGravesRuinsFallenFancyBuriedSooner Or LaterLong LifeMonumentAfter DeathFootstepsCheatedCongregationLife After DeathInscriptions
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“What men usually say of misfortunes, that they never come alone, may with equal truth be said of good fortune; nay, of other circumstances which gather round us in a harmonious way, whether it arise from a kind of fatality, or that man has the power of attracting to himself things that are mutually related.”

MenWayKindMaySaidCircumstancesTruth IsEqualFortuneRoundsAriseRelatedMisfortunesGood FortuneHarmoniousMe AloneFatality
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.”

IfsThinkingWorldLifeMayImportantMovingExistenceImagineBreathsFilledAbsenceCirclesFancyConvinceGapsPausesAlasSomething Better
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“Basic characteristics of an individual organism: to divide, to unite, to merge into the universal, to abide in the particular, to transform itself, to define itself, and as living things tend to appear under a thousand conditions, to arise and vanish, to solidify and melt, to freeze and flow, to expand and contract. Since these effects occur together, any or all may occur at the same moment.”

LifeMayMomentsTogetherScienceIndividualConditionsEffectsParticularThousandFlowUniversalAriseCharacteristicsContractsDividesOrganismsLiving ThingsFreeze
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”

MenShouldHumansMayLittlesArtSoulCareBeautifulReligionOrderBeautyCreativityFineWorldlyHuman SoulBeauty Of LifeMusic LifeBeautiful HeartBeauty Of The WorldMusic And LifeBeautiful SoulBeautiful ArtBeautiful LadyLife And BeautyBeautiful PoetryBeauty Poetry
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“Is it not enough that we cannot make one another happy, must we also rob one another of the pleasures that any heart may permit itself now and then? And name me a person who in a bad mood will be decent enough to hide it, to bear it alone, without destroying the joy around him. Is it not rather an inner dissatisfaction with our own unworthiness, a dislike of ourselves that is always associated with envy aggravated by foolish conceit? We see people happy and not made happy by us, and that is unbearable.”

PeopleHeartMayPersonsMadeEnoughJoyNamesPleasureBearsEnvyFoolishMoodDecentPermitDestroyingDislikeNow And ThenUnbearableConceitDissatisfactionBad MoodAggravated
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“No two men see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will apply in different ways a principle that they both acknowledge. The same man will, indeed, often see and judge the same things differently on different occasions: early convictions must give way to more mature ones. Nevertheless, may not the opinions that a man holds and expresses withstand all trials, if he only remains true to himself and others?”

IfsMenWorldWayGivingMayTwoDifferentOpinionPrinciplesJudgingRemainsConvictionTrialsOccasionsAcknowledgeDifferent WaysMatureNeverthelessTemperament
Book:Goethe on Art
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“True observers of nature, although they may think differently, will still agree that everything that is, everything that is observable as a phenomenon, can only exhibit itself in one of two ways. It is either a primal polarity that is able to unify, or it is a primal unity that is able to divide. The operation of nature consists of splitting the united or uniting the divided; this is the eternal movement of systole and diastole of the heartbeat, the inhalation and exhalation of the world in which we live, act, and exist.”

ThinkingWorldWayLifeHeartMayStillsTwoAbleUnitedMovementEternalAgreeUnityOperationsPhenomenonDividedDividesObserversHeartbeatTwo WaysExhibitsPrimalSplittingUnitingPolarity
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“How fair doth Nature Appear again! How bright the sunbeams! How smiles the plain! The flow'rs are bursting From ev'ry bough, And thousand voices Each bush yields now. And joy and gladness Fill ev'ry breast! Oh earth!-oh sunlight! Oh rapture blest! Oh love! oh loved one!”

MayEarthJoyVoiceThousandFairsFlowBreastsYieldLoved OnesSunlightRaptureGladnessBurstingSunbeams
Book:The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original Metres, with a Sketch of Goethe's Life. By E. A. Bowring
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“The bed of flowers Loosens amain, The beauteous snowdrops Droop o'er the plain. The crocus opens Its glowing bud, Like emeralds others, Others, like blood. With saucy gesture Primroses flare, And roguish violets, Hidden with care; And whatsoever There stirs and strives, The Spring's contented, If works and thrives.”

IfsMayCareBloodFlowerBedSpringStriveThriveGesturesStrifeVioletBudGlowingFlareEmeraldsCrocusesSnowdrops
Book:Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)
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“Take life too seriously, and what is it worth? If the morning wake us to no new joys, if the evening bring us not the hopes of new pleasures, is it worth while to dress and undress? Does the sun shine on me today that I may reflect on yesterday? That I may endeavor to foresee and control what can neither be foreseen nor controlled - the destiny of tomorrow?”

IfsLifeMayDoeTodayJoyPleasureDestinyMorningSunTomorrowDressesShiningYesterdayEveningControlledEndeavorSun ShinesShine OnForeseen
Book:The Works of J. W. Von Goethe
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