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
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.
You are aware of only one unrest;Oh, never to learn the other!Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast,And one is striving to forsake its brother.
Who never ate his bread in sorrow, who never sat the sorrowful nights weeping on his bed, he knows you not, you heavenly Powers.
Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.
Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different
Whether a person shows themselves to be a genius in science or in writing a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, or the deed, is living and can live on.
Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves
It is better to busy one's self about the smallest thing in the world than to treat a half hour as worthless
We need a constitution, we need rules, but we don't need a wall,
Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.
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.
There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.