quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"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."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"There are two things children should get from their parents: roots and wings."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
insanity
77 people liked it
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"If I love you, what business is it of yours?"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"By seeking and blundering we learn."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
education
60 people liked it
"knowing is not enough,we must apply
willing is not enough,we must do.."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
willing is not enough,we must do.."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
knowledge
37 people liked it
"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans.
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and -- if at all possible -- speak a few sensible words."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"'Know thyself'? If I knew myself, I'd run away!"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
humor,
insightful
18 people liked it
"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
""To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking." "
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
""Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away.""
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
philosophy
15 people liked it
"Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"This is the true measure of love, When we believe that we alone can love, That no one could ever have loved so before us, And that no one will ever love in the same way after us."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
love
14 people liked it
"Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"The way you see people is the way you treat them and the way you treat them is what they become."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to
do, that makes life blessed."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
do, that makes life blessed."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. "
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength”"
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
tags:
life
8 people liked it
"Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires: beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"If you've never eaten while crying you don t know what life tastes like."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Every situation--nay, every moment--is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"A word spoken is a terrible thing when it suddenly utters what the heart has long allowed."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Which poet gave the following explanation on one of his own works, and which work is he referring to?
"I intended to delineate the feelings of one of the last of the Greek religious philosophers, one of the family of Orpheus and Musaeus, having survived his fellows, living on into a time when the habits of Greek thought and feeling had begun fast to change, character to dwindle, the influence of the Sophists to prevail. Into the feelings of a man so situated there entered much that we are accustomed to consider as exclusively modern (...) What those who are familiar only with the great monuments of early Greek genius suppose to be its exclusive characteristics, have disappeared; the calm, the cheerfulness, the disinterested objectivity have disappeared: the dialogue of the mind with itself has commenced; modem problems have presented themselves; we hear already the doubts, we witness the discouragement, of Hamlet and of Faust."
a. Percy Bysshe Shelley — on "Ozymandias"
b. Matthew Arnold — on "Empedocles On Etna"
c. John Keats — on "Ode On A Grecian Urn"
d. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — on "Prometheus"
More trivia...
"I intended to delineate the feelings of one of the last of the Greek religious philosophers, one of the family of Orpheus and Musaeus, having survived his fellows, living on into a time when the habits of Greek thought and feeling had begun fast to change, character to dwindle, the influence of the Sophists to prevail. Into the feelings of a man so situated there entered much that we are accustomed to consider as exclusively modern (...) What those who are familiar only with the great monuments of early Greek genius suppose to be its exclusive characteristics, have disappeared; the calm, the cheerfulness, the disinterested objectivity have disappeared: the dialogue of the mind with itself has commenced; modem problems have presented themselves; we hear already the doubts, we witness the discouragement, of Hamlet and of Faust."
a. Percy Bysshe Shelley — on "Ozymandias"
b. Matthew Arnold — on "Empedocles On Etna"
c. John Keats — on "Ode On A Grecian Urn"
d. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — on "Prometheus"
More trivia...

