Quotes By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.

If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.

There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.

Every spoken word arouses our self-will.

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

We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.

Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at.

All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.

Correction does much, but encouragement does more.

Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.

Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

I call architecture frozen music.

Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.

To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods.

He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.

Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.

We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright.

Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.

Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.

There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.