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
All of us have life; few of us have an idea of it.
I must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge to action, inventiveness, performance, order all alternate and keep their orbit; cheerfulness, vigor, energy, flexibility and fatigue, serenity as well as desire. Nothing disturbs the cycle for I lead a simple life, but I must still find the time and order in which I rotate.
Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest; the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the impressions of the beautiful and perfect, that every one should study, by all methods, to nourish in his mind the faculty of feeling these things. ...For this reason, one ought every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
God made man simple, but how he changed and got complicated is hard to say.
Time is my estate: to Time I'm heir.
Time itself is an element.
Even the lowliest, provided he is whole, can be happy, and in his own . way, perfect.
Life's objective is life itself.
Let us live, while we are alive!
If you miss the first buttonhole, you will not succeed in buttoning up your coat.
Faith is hidden household capital.
Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them.
But one must know where one stands, and where the others wish to go.
Words are mere sound and smoke, dimming the heavenly light.