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Quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“But what is your duty? What the day demands. [Ger., Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages.]”

Quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born on August 28, 1749, and died on March 22, 1832, was a prominent German writer, thinker, and scientist. He is one of the greatest writers in German literary history and his works have had a profound impact on the world. His most famous works include 'Faust' and 'The Sorrows of Young Werther'. more

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Book:Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of His Life

Source: Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of His Life

“He who only tastes his error will long dwell with it, will take delight in it as in a singular felicity; while he who drains it to the dregs will, if he be not crazy, find it to be what it is.”

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“How happy he who can still hope to lift himself from this sea of error! What we know not, that we are anxious to possess, and cannot use what we know.”

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Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is much easier to meet with error than to find truth; error is on the surface, and can be more easily met with; truth is hid in great depths, the way to seek does not appear to all the world.”

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“Faith is a homely, private capital; as there are public savings-banks and poor funds, out of which in times of want we can relieve the necessities of individuals, so here the faithful take their coin in peace.”

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“Woe to falsehood! it affords no relief to the breast, like truth; it gives us no comfort, pains him who forges it, and like an arrow directed by a god flies back and wounds the archer.”

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Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Nothing is so atrocious as fancy without taste.”

Book:Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art

Source: Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art

“Moral epochs have their course as well as the seasons. We can no more hold them fast than we can hold sun, moon, and stars. Our faults perpetually return upon us; and herein lies the subtlest difficulty of self-knowledge.”

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“What sort of faults may we retain, nay, even cherish in ourselves? Those faults which are rather pleasant than offensive to others.”

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Book:The Wisdom of Goethe

Source: The Wisdom of Goethe

“Change amuses the mind, but rarely profits.”

Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe