Explore some of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe best quotations and sayings on Quotes.net - such as 'Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.' “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture,. “Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success.” Johann.

In general the sciences put some distance between themselves and life, and make their way back to it only by a roundabout path.
So dear night the half of life is, And the fairest half indeed.
Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete character.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a prolific German poet and writer. Within his body of work are many quotes (zitate, in German) that are now famous bits of wisdom passed down through the generations. A number of these have also influenced other popular musings and sage advice. Top 17 Most Famous Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes (BEST) “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Of all peoples the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life best.
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Natural system — a contradiction in terms. Nature has no system; she has, she is life and its progress from an unknown center toward an unknowable goal. Scientific research is therefore endless, whether one proceed analytically into minutiae or follow the trail as a whole, in all its breadth and height.
And what does really matter? That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking—and these are the sum of all wisdom.... Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out.
Dear friend, all theory is gray, And green the golden tree of life.
We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrevocably for ourselves and for others.

Goethe Biography

Would you require a wretched being, whose life is slowly wasting under a lingering disease, to despatch himself at once by the stroke of a dagger? Does not the very disorder which consumes his strength deprive him of the courage to effect his deliverance?
Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of life.
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
And I like those authors best whose scenes describe my own situation in life— and the friends who are about me whose stories touch me with interest, from resembling my own homely existence.
A life without love, without the presence of the beloved, is nothing but a mere magic-lantern show. We draw out slide after slide, swiftly tiring of each, and pushing it back to make haste for the next.
Superstition is the poesy of practical life; hence, a poet is none the worse for being superstitious.
Goethe
Of freedom and of life he only is deserving Who every day must conquer them anew.
Art is long, life short; judgment difficult, opportunity transient.
Life seems so vulgar, so easily content with the commonplace things of every day, and yet it always nurses and cherishes certain higher claims in secret, and looks about for the means of satisfying them.

Born in 1749, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the most esteemed German romantic philosopher poets of the 18-19th century.

In this collection we’ve listed some of his most notable quotes on love.

Let us begin:

Love does not dominate, it cultivates. And that is more.

How can love be a dominating force? If anything that is a primitive and ignorant view of what love is. Goethe shows here that rather than domination love is a cultivating and of course a unifying force. Cultivation and unity is more than domination.

The errors of a man are what make him really lovable.

We may not realize it but often we love the flaws of another person. The imperfections accompanied with the good parts that make up the whole. If the individual was perfect, it simply wouldn’t be the same.

What’s it to you if I love you?

Sometimes loving can be ones own private relationship as Goethe hints at above. We do not need the others consent nor to love them. The more you love the richer you are.

A world without love would be no world.

Yes. True. Very True. What would we do without love to accompany us from the cradle to the grave. We would be stumbling in the dark. The universe is a big place and we as a species are infinitesimal in comparison. However with love, we are infinite and so is the potential for this blue-green world of ours.

Quotes Goethe

Very few people love others for what they are; rather, they love what they lend them, their own selves, their own idea of them.

This is true and is most apparent in the love of parents. They tend to see themselves in their children and thus the child becomes “theirs” so to say. Very few individuals love others for what and who they are independent of themselves. This is rare but glorious.

We can’t form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us. Raise them the best we can, and leave them free to develop.

Goethe quote providence moves

This proves my previous point in perfect wordings. We have to love the children as independent free individuals while giving them the best guidance we can provide with.

The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth.

Loving truth is a great form of love. Some may call it abstract and vague but for the insightful man its palpable as the love of your significant other or what have you. Truth is one.

Love of truth shows itself in this, that a man knows how to find and value the good in everything.

Brainy Quotes Goethe

Again another clarification (how nice of you Goethe!), the love of truth triumphs and in this quote Goethe clarifies what exactly he means by tis statement.

Know you the land where the lemon-trees bloom? In the dark foliage the gold oranges glow; a soft wind hovers from the sky, the myrtle is still and the laurel stands tall do you know it well? There, there, I would go, O my beloved, with thee.

When we come to a certain age we all long for that sense of becoming one with another. That romantic love if you will. Its the source of creation and life. There’s a reason why we as a species have been and still are so infatuated with love stories. Romeo and Juliet, Mem û Zîn and what have you.

Quotes Goethe

The arrows of Love are various: some scratch us,
And our hearts suffer for years from their slow poison.
But others strong-feathered with freshly sharpened points
Pierce to the marrow, and quickly inflame the blood.

Love works in mysterious ways. What is love really now that we’re on that topic? Is it one fixed thing that we as human beings feel? Perhaps its much more dynamic than that. We all feel different kinds of love. That is to say, love to a parent seems to differ to the love to a partner. But how different is it really?

Fill your heart to overflowing, and when you feel profoundest bliss, then call it what you will: Good fortune! Heart! Love! or God! I have no name for it! Feeling is all; the name is sound and smoke, beclouding Heaven’s glow.

Translation

This is a magnificent line by Goethe. Whether we call it love or bliss, joy or supreme happiness doesn’t matter. What does matter is the sensation and experience of “love”. Become immersed with this experience as much as you can.

Quotes Goethe Faust

Nature’s crown is Love. Only through Love can we come near her. She puts gulfs between all things, and all things strive to be interfused. She isolates everything, that she may draw everything together. With a few draughts from the cup of Love she repays for a life full of trouble.

Goethe Quotes Faust

Last but definitely not least is this astounding quote. Here the essence and drama of love is displayed in poetic perfection. Nature’s crown is love, not intelligence, honour, glory or what have you, but love.

Final thoughts

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a insightful individual whose influence on western culture has been immense. These quotes accompanied with illuminating comments from NirvanicInsights has been a delight for us to share.

Goethe Quotes Art

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