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
Poetic fire sank low in me When it was God I sought to see, But up it flamed, up to the sky, When it was Evil I had to fly
The Evil One has left, the evil ones remain.
To tremble before anticipated evils is to bemoan what thou hast never lost.
What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner.
I am the spirit that negates. And rightly so, for all that comes to be Deserves to perish wretchedly; 'Twere better nothing would begin. Thus everything that that your terms, sin, Destruction, evil represent— That is my proper element.
Who are you then?" "I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.
The ground that a good man treads is hallowed.
I believe in God and in nature and in the triumph of good over evil.
The Evil One has left, the evil ones remain. [Ger., Den Bosen sind sie los, die Bosen sind geblieben.]
The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.
The assault of our enemies is not part of our life; it is only part of our experience; we throw it off and guard ourselves against it as against frost, storm, rain, hail, or any other of the external evils which may be expected to happen.
When all is said the greatest action is to limit and isolate one's self.
I've studied now Philosophy and Jurisprudence, Medicine - and even, alas! Theology - from end to end with labor keen; and here, poor fool with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before.
I've studied now Philosophy and Jurisprudence, Medicine -- and even, alas! Theology -- from end to end with labor keen; and here, poor fool with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before.