Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and statesman who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a major figure of German literature and is known for his works such as Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was also a key figure in the Sturm und Drang movement and a central figure in the development of German classicism. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on love, creative, influential.
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, power and grace.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe inspirational quote
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Image Quotes
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
What is not started today is never finished tomorrow. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.
Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Correction does much, but encouragement does more. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Our friends show us what we can do; our enemies teach us what we must do. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A useless life is an early death. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The man of understanding finds everything laughable. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Short Quotes
There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.
Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.
One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.
What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything.
The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image
Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About Love
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
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If I love you, what business is it of yours? — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Very few people love others for what they are; rather, they love what they lend them, their own selves, their own idea of them. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
True love is love that stays constant for ever, whatever it's fortune; whether requited or scored, filled or sent empty away. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I love those who yearn for the impossible. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Love does not dominate; it cultivates. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Here too it’s masquerade, I find: As everywhere, the dance of mind. I grasped a lovely masked procession, And caught things from a horror show… I’d gladly settle for a false impression, If it would last a little longer, though. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About Creative
Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
From inaccessible mountain range by way of desert untrod by human foot to the ends of the unknown seas, the breath of the everlasting creative spirit is felt, rejoicing over every speck of dust that hearkens to it and lives. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One never goes so far as when one doesn't know where one is going. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To create something you must be something. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Of the truly creative no one is ever master; it must be left to go its own way. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Every individual who is not creative has a negative, narrow, exclusive taste and succeeds in depriving creative being of its energy and life. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To make something you have to be something. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About Life
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A useless life is an early death. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities. — 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
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
This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise, we harden. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Rest not. Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life is too short to drink bad wine. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About People
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
People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Oblivion is full of people who allow the opinions of others to overrule their belief in themselves. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Few people have the imagination for reality. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually. — 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
There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About World
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Those that are firm in their will mold the world to themselves. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He who is firm in will molds the world to himself. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The world remains ever the same. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The world is so full of simpletons and madmen, that one need not seek them in a madhouse. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes About Person
The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I never knew a more presumptuous person than myself. The fact that I say that shows that what I say is true. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. If we practice and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the wholeworld will be blind and toothless. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One is never satisfied with the portrait of a person that one knows. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The really unhappy person is the one who leaves undone what they can do, and starts doing what they don't understand; no wonder they come to grief. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A person hears only what they understand. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Personality is everything in art and poetry. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Famous Quotes And Sayings
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. — 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 have otherwise occurred...unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. — 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....In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or is dehumanized. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
What is not started today is never finished tomorrow. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Correction does much, but encouragement does more. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Our friends show us what we can do; our enemies teach us what we must do. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It is the color closest to light. In its utmost purity it always implies the nature of brightness and has a cheerful, serene, gently stimulating character. Hence, experience teaches us that yellow makes a thoroughly warm and comforting impression. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Someday perhaps the inner light will shine forth from us, and the we'll need no other light. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Everything is hard before it is easy. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A useless life is an early death. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Yet through delivery orators succeed, I feel that I am far behind indeed. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nothing is worse than active ignorance. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
With little art, clear wit and sense Suggest their own delivery. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The man of understanding finds everything laughable. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wisdom is found only in truth. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never known men of ability to be ungrateful. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I am not omniscient, but I know a lot. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Lord Byron is only great as a poet; as soon as he reflects he is a child. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There are two things parents should give their children roots and wings. Roots to give them bearing and a sense of belonging, but also wings to help free them from constraints and prejudices and give them other ways to travel (or rather, to fly). — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Great endowments often announce themselves in youth in the form of singularity and awkwardness. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As long as you are not aware of the continual law of Die and Be Again, you are merely a vague guest on a dark Earth. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Once you have missed the first buttonhole, you'll never manage to button up. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Yet through delivery orators succeed,
I feel that I am far behind indeed.
[Ger., Allein der Vortrag macht des Redners Gluck,
Ich fuhl es wohl noch bin ich weit zuruck.] — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Master and Doctor are my titles; for ten years now, without repose, I held my erudite recitals and led my pupils by the nose. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The ideal of beauty is simplicity and tranquility. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Sin writes histories, goodness is silent. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There are two things children should get from their parents: roots and wings. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Belief is not the beginning of knowledge - it is the end. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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
We must be young to do great things. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A man's foibles are what makes him lovable. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest.
[Ger., Wo viel Licht is, ist starker Schatten.] — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Our destiny often looks like a fruit-tree in winter. Who would think from its pitiable aspect that those rigid boughs, those rough twigs could next spring again be green, bloom, and even bear fruit? Yet we hope it, we know it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The more one knows, the more one comprehends, the more one realizes that everything turns in a circle. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A really great talent finds its happiness in execution. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life Lessons by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life is a journey of self-discovery, and Goethe encourages us to take risks and explore our potential.
He believed in the power of positive thinking and that one should strive to be the best version of themselves.
Goethe also taught us to appreciate beauty and the importance of living with integrity and purpose.
Citation
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