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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes - Page 40

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There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis.

There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Army, Doe, Moral

Ah! my poor brain is racked and crazed, My spirit and senses amazed!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Brain, Spirit, Poor
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1908). “Faust: Freely Adapted from Goethe's Dramatic Poem”

Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nature, Men, Errors
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.346, Ravenio Books

The day of fortune is like a harvest day, We must be busy when the corn is ripe. [Ger., Ein tag der Gunst ist wie ein Tag der Ernte, Man muss geschaftig sein sobald sie reift.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Men, Corn, Tag

Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Doe, Prudent, Results
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.166, Ravenio Books

It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with other events, usually only amuses himself or makes sport of us, as, for instance, the naturalist or historian. But a single action or event is interesting, not because it is explainable, but because it is true.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Sports, Science, Interesting

Everything is simpler than one can imagine, and yet complicated and inter-twined beyond comprehension.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Complicated, Imagine, Comprehension
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1932). “Goethe's poems and aphorisms”

Voluntary dependence is the wonderful form of existence, and how could that be possible without love?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Love, Wonderful, Form

Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Two, Confusion, World
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Elizabeth Mayer, Louise Bogan, Wystan Hugh Auden (1971). “The sorrows of young Werther, and Novella”

Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient. To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome. Every beginning is cheerful: the threshold is the place of expectation.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Art, Short Life, Opportunity
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Carlyle, Henry Duff Traill (1824). “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels”, p.75

A correct answer is like an affectionate kiss.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Kissing, Answers, Slap In The Face
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1948). “The permanent Goethe”

People do not mind their faults being spread out before them, but they become impatient if called on to give them up.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
People, Giving, Mind

Nature! We are enveloped and embraced by her, incapable of emerging from her and incapable of entering her more deeply. Unbidden and unwarned, she receives us into the circuits of her dance, drifting onward with us herself, until we grow tired and drop from her arms.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nature, Tired, Entering
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1963). “Goethe's world view: presented in his reflections and maxims”

We don't get to know people when they come to us; we must go to them to find out what they are like.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
People, Humanity, Literature

You'll never attain it unless you know the feeling.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Feelings, Knows
"Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p.270, Faust, I. 1. 182, 1922.

It is much easier to meet with error than to find truth; error is on the surface, and can be more easily met with; truth is hid in great depths, the way to seek does not appear to all the world.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Errors, Depth, Doe

Love grants in a moment What toil can hardly achieve in an age. [Ger., In einem Augenblick gewahrt die Liebe Was Muhe kaum in langer Zeit erreicht.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Love, Age, Toil

The greatest happiness for the thinking person is to have explored the explorable and to venerate in equanimity that which cannotbe explored.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Happiness, Thinking, Equanimity

Happy is it, indeed, for me that my heart is capable of feeling the same simple and innocent pleasure as the peasant whose table is covered with food of his own rearing, and who not only enjoys his meal, but remembers with delight the happy days and sunny mornings when he planted it, the soft evenings when he watered it, and the pleasure he experienced in watching its daily growth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Morning, Heart, Simple
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2015). “The Sorrows of Young Werther: Top Classic of German”, p.13, 谷月社

One mind is enough for a thousand hands.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Inspirational, Hands, Mind
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Barker Fairley (1970). “Faust”

The mortal race is far too weak not to grow dizzy on unwonted brights.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Race, Weakness, Dizzy

Art will always be art.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Art

True works of art are a manifestation of the higher laws of nature.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Art, Law, Manifestation

So then the year is repeating its old story again. We are come once more, thank God! to its most charming chapter. The violets and the Mayflowers are as its inscriptions or vignettes. It always makes a pleasant impression on us, when we open again at these pages of the book of life.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Spring, Book, Years

Generally speaking, an author's style is a faithful copy of his mind. If you would write a lucid style, let there first be light in your own mind; and if you would write a grand style, you ought to have a grand character.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Character, Writing, Light
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1853). “Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art”, p.116

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