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
National literature no longer means very much, the age of world literature is due.
In all times it is only individuals that have advanced science, not the age.
The brilliant passes, like the dew at morn; The true endures, for ages yet unborn.
At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike.
Tolerance comes of age. I see no fault committed that I myself could not have committed at some time or other.
Love grants in a moment what toil can hardly acheive in an age.
Music is either sacred or secular. The sacred agrees with its dignity, and here has its greatest effect on life, an effect that remains the same through all ages and epochs. Secular music should be cheerful throughout.
The credit of advancing science has always been due to individuals and never to the age.
The modern age has a false sense of superiority, because of the great mass of data at its disposal. But the valid criterion of distinction is rather the extent to which man knows how to form and master the material at his command.
To become aware in time when young of the advantages of age; to maintain the advantages of youth in old age: both are pure fortune.
Age childish makes, they say, but 'tis not true; We're only genuine children still in Age's season. [Ger., Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht, Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder.]
Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.
We must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
Conscience is the virtue of the observers not the agents of action