Quotes
Quotes - Goethe
With little art, clear wit and sense Suggest their own delivery. [Ger., Es tragt Verstand und rechter Sinn, Mit wenig Kunst sich selber vor.]
All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.
For what one has in black and white, One can carry home in comfort. [Ger., Denn was man schwarz auf weiss besitzt, Kann man getrost nach Hause tragen.]
What we do not understand we do not possess.
What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; What's genuine, shall posterity inherit. [Ger., Was glanzt ist fur den Augenblick geboren; Das Aechte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren.]
Neither art thou the man to catch the fiend and hold him! [Ger., Du bist noch nicht der Mann den Teufel festzuhalten.]
Power is neither male nor female.
Too rigid scruples are concealed pride. [Ger., Zu strenge Ford'rung ist verborgner Stolz.]
He who moves not forward goes backward! A capital saying!
Everything in the world may be endured, except only a succession of prosperous days. [Ger., Alles in der Welt lasst sich ertragen, Nur nicht eine Reihe von schonen Tagen.]
He who does not stretch himself according to the coverlet finds his feet uncovered. [Ger., Wer sich nicht nach der Decke streckt, Dem bleiben die Fusse unbedeckt.]
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
I wish the crowd to feel itself well treated, Especially since it lives and lets me live. [Ger., Ich wunschte sehr, der Menge zu behagen, Besonders weil sie lebt und leben lasst.]
He who serves the public is a poor animal; he worries himself to death and no one thanks him for it. [Ger., Wer dem Publicum dient, ist ein armes Thier; Er qualt sich ab, niemand bedankt sich dafur.]
The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.
What they're accustomed to is no great matter, But then, alas! they've read an awful deal. [Ger., Zwar sind sie an das Beste nicht gewohnt, Allein sie haben schrecklich viel gelesen.]
For a strolling damsel a doubtful reputation bears. [Ger., Denn ein wanderndes Madchen ist immer von schwankendem Rufe.]
I consider him of no account who esteems himself just as the popular breath may chance to raise him. [Ger., Ich halte nichts von dem, der von sich denkt Wie ihn das Volk vielleicht erheben mochte.]
Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
There was a king of Thule, Was faithful till the grave, To whom his mistress dying, A golden goblet gave. [Ger., Es war ein Konig in Tule Gar treu bis an das Grab, Dem sterbend seine Buhle Einen gold'nen Becher gab.]
Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality. [Ger., Wissenschaft und Kunst gehoren der Welt an, und vor ihhen verschwinden die Schranken der Nationalitat.]
God could cause us considerable embarrassment by revealing all the secrets of nature to us: we should not know what to do for sheer apathy and boredom.
Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
