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
Make the most of time, it flies away so fast; yet method will teach you to win time.
Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest. [Ger., Wo viel Licht is, ist starker Schatten.]
Lamps make oil-spots and candles need snuffing; it is only the light of heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.
The march of intellect, which licks all the world into shape, has even reached the devil.
I have observed that as long as one lives and bestirs himself, he can always find food and raiment, though it may not be of the choicest description.
Thou art in the end what thou art. Put on wigs with millions of curls, set thy foot upon ell-high rocks. Thou abidest ever--what thou art.
What reason would grope for in vain, spontaneous impulse ofttimes achieves at a stroke, with light and pleasureful guidance.
Ill-humor is nothing more than an inward feeling of our own want of merit, a dissatisfaction with ourselves which is always united with an envy that foolish vanity excites.
There is nothing more frightful than an active ignorance. [Ger., Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thatige Unwissenheit.]
Humor is one of the elements of genius--admirable as an adjunct; but as soon as it becomes dominant, only a surrogate for genius.
Sin writes histories, goodness is silent. [Ger., Das Uebel macht eine Geschichte und das Gute keine.]
To a valet no man is a hero. [Ger., Es gibt fur den Kammerdiener keiner Helden.]
Nobody, they say, is a hero to his valet. Of course; for a man must be a hero to understand a hero. The valet, I dare say, has great respect for some person of his own stamp.
The public wishes itself to be managed like a woman; one must say nothing to it except what it likes to hear.