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
It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.
A flippant, frivolous man may ridicule others, may controvert them, scorn them; but he who has any respect for himself seems to have renounced the right of thinking meanly of others.
We can really respect a man only if he doesn't always look out for himself.
Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.
He who is and remains true to himself and to others has the most attractive quality of the greatest talent.
The further one advances in experience, the closer one comes to the unfathomable; the more one learns to utilize experience, the more one recognizes that the unfathomable is of no practical value.
The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity.
If you want to make life easy, make it hard.
If you call a thing bad you do little, if you call a thing good you do much
I treat my heart like a sick child and gratify its every fancy
On top of the world, or in the depths of despair.
Sometimes I don't understand how another can love her, is allowed to love her, since I love her so completely myself, so intensely, so fully, grasp nothing, know nothing, have nothing but her!
I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.