Poetry Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Poetry, dreams, desire, everything leads me to you.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Give shape, artist! don't talk! Your poem be but a breath.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is part of the poetry of life.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There is but one poetry,--true poetry.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is the poetry of life.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Modern poets add a lot of water to their ink.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Personality is everything in art and poetry.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Every day we hear a little melody,reading a beautiful poem, see a fine painting and,If possible, say the words.”

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Whoever would understand the poet Must go into the poet's country. [Ger., Wer den Dichter will verstehen Muss in Dichters Lande gehen.]

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The world is so great and rich, and life so full of variety, that you can never lack occasions for poems.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The question "From where does the poet get it?" addresses only the what, nobody learns anything about the how when asking that…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The poet should seize the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Shakespeare is dangerous to young poets; they cannot but reproduce him, while they fancy that they produce themselves.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is the poesy of practical life; hence, a poet is none the worse for being superstitious.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you want to understand poetry, You have to go to its origin, If you want to understand the poet, You have…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There speaks the man of truly noble ways, Who will not listen to the words of praise. In modesty averse, and with…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To live within limits. To want one thing. Or a few things very much and love them dearly. Cling to them, survey…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The true poet is called to take in the splendor of the world and for that reason will always be inclined to…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is the poetry of life. It is inherent in man's nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and -- if at…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One ought, every day at least,to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture,and, if it were possible,…

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

After all, poets shouldn't be their own interpreters and shouldn't carefully dissect their poems into everyday prose; that would mean the end…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Rash combat oft immortalizes man; if he should fall, he is renowned in song; but after-ages reckon not the ceaseless tears which…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

As for what I have done as a poet, I take no pride in whatever. Excellent poets have lived at the same…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest; the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There is a great difference, whether the poet seeks the particular for the sake of the general or sees the general in…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“What I have lately said of painting is equally true with respect to poetry. It is only necessary for us to know…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Don't feel guilty if you don't immediately love your stepchildren as you do your own, or as much as you think you…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What makes poetry? A full heart, brimful of one noble passion.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

At bottom, no real object is unpoetical, if the poet knows how to use it properly.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

True art can only spring from the intimate linking of the serious and the playful.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is poetry of life, so that it does not injure the poet to be superstitious

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party; and so soon as he does that, he…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We are pantheists as natural scientists, polytheists as poets, and monotheists as moral beings.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Science arose from poetry... when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Modern poets mix too much water with their ink. [Ger., Neuere Poeten thun viel Wasser in die Tinte.]

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe