Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
German poet, novelist and statesman, 1749-1832
100 quotes.
Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- He who has a firm will molds the world to himself.
- He who is firm in will moulds the world to himself.
- He who moves not forward goes backward! A capital saying!
- How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth.
- How can we learn to know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Essay to do thy duty, and thou knowest at once what is in thee.
- How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to.
- I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
- If you would create something, you must be something.
- In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
- Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.
- It is a great error to take oneself for more than one is, or for less than one is worth.
- It is better to be doing the most insignificant thing than to reckon even a half-hour insignificant.
- It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.
- It is equally a mistake to hold one's self too high, or to rate one's self too cheap.
- It is not enough to know, we must also apply; it is not enough to will, we must also do.
- It is only necessary to grow old to become more indulgent. I see no fault committed that I have not committed myself.
- Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!
- As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
- Love has power to give in a moment what toil can scarcely reach in an age.
- Many people take no care of their money till they have come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
- Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.
- None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
- Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day.
- Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.
- Of all thieves fools are the worst; they rob you of time and temper.
- One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.
- One cannot develop taste from what is of average quality but only from the very best.
- One must be something in order to do something.
- Since time is not a person we can overtake when he is past, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing.
- Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
- Talents are nurtured best in solitude, but character on life's tempestuous sea.
- Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are; if I know what it is with which you occupy yourself, I know what you may become.
- That which history can give us best is the enthusiasm which it raises in our hearts.
- The best of all governments is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.
- The clearest indication of character is what people find laughable.
- The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth.
- The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.
- The little done vanishes from the sight of him who looks forward to what is still to do.
- The present moment is a powerful deity.
- There are few who have at once thought and capacity for action. Thought expands, but lames; action animates, but narrows.