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
He who serves the public is a poor animal; he worries himself to death and no one thanks him for it.
He who does not stretch himself according to the coverlet finds his feet uncovered.
Too rigid scruples are concealed pride.
Power is neither male nor female.
Neither art thou the man to catch the fiend and hold him! [Ger., Du bist noch nicht der Mann den Teufel festzuhalten.
What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; Whats genuine, shall posterity inherit.
For what one has in black and white, One can carry home in comfort.
Yet through delivery orators succeed, I feel that I am far behind indeed.
With little art, clear wit and sense Suggest their own delivery.
To make a young couple love each other, it is only necessary to oppose and separate them.
Yet he who grasps the moment's gift, He is the proper man.
The sea is flowing ever, The land retains it never.
A noble soul alone can noble souls attract; And knows alone, as ye, to hold them.
The iron hand of necessity commands, and her stern decree is supreme law, to which the gods even must submit. In deep silence rules the uncounselled sister of eternal fate. Whatever she lays upon thee, endure; perform whatever she commands.