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
Yes! To this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true; He only earns his freedom and existence Who daily conquers them anew.
The child, offered the mother's breast, Will not in the beginning grab it; But soon it clings to it with zest. And thus at wisdom's copious breasts You'll drink each day with greater zest.
The unnatural, that too is natural.
A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows and rows of natural objects, classified with name and form.
It would not be worth your while to reach the age of seventy if all the wisdom of the world were to be foolishness before God.
Wisdom is only found in truth. [Ger., Die Weisheit ist nur in der Wahrheit.]
Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.
Willing is not enough, we must do.
Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, power and grace.
All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.
Wisdom is found only in truth.