Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann WolfgangGoethetə/; German: ; 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him exist...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth28 August 1749
CountryGermany
Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.
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.
Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her.
Oh how sweet it is to hear one's own convictions from another's lips.
Willing is not enough, we must do.
Enjoy what you can, endure what you must.
I have found among my papers a sheet . . . in which I call architecture frozen music.
Of all peoples the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life best.
A person is never happy till their vague strivings has itself marked out its proper limitations.
People are so constituted that everybody would rather undertake what they see others do, whether they have an aptitude for it or not.
Energy is the basis of everything. Every Jew, no matter how insignificant, is engaged in some decisive and immediate pursuit of a goal... It is the most perpetual people of the earth...
The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it.
Chess is the touchstone of intellect.
Live dangerously and you live right.