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
Know thyself""? If I knew myself I'd run away
The world runs on from one folly to another; and the man who, solely from regard to the opinion of others, and without any wish or necessity of his own, toils after gold, honour, or any other phantom, is no better than a fool.
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.
The connoisseur of art must be able to appreciate what is simply beautiful, but the common run of people is satisfied with ornament.
Vanity is a desire of personal glory, the wish to be appreciated, honoured, and run after, not because of one's personal qualities, merits, and achievements, but because of one's individual existence. At best, therefore, it is a frivolous beauty whim it befits.
Man is a simple being, and however rich, varied, and unfathomable he may be, the cycle of his situations is soon run through.
There are situations in which hope and fear run together, in which they mutually destroy one another and lose themselves in dull indifference.
Just as, out of habit, one consults a run-down clock as though it were still going, so too one may look at the face of a beautiful woman as though he still loved her.
The miller believes that all the wheat grows so that his mill keeps running.
People can only live with their equals, and not even with them; for in the long run they cannot tolerate that someone is their equal.
Human life runs its course in the metamorphosis between receiving and giving.
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.