Quotes By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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

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

Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.

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

Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.

Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.

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

Personality is everything in art and poetry.

There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.

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

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

Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.

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

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

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

Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture.

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

Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

I never knew a more presumptuous person than myself. The fact that I say that shows that what I say is true.

Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.

The human mind will not be confined to any limits.

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

A correct answer is like an affectionate kiss.

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

Every step of life shows much caution is required.

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