Truth Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

65 Truth quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All Truth quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s page

Error on the surface is easy to spot, but truth hides deep where few look. Goethe reminds us that old truths are always there, waiting to be spoken again, and that trying to grasp truth can feel like holding a bright torch that may scorch the eyes.

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“Wisdom lies only in truth.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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There is but one poetry,--true poetry.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Nothing hurts a new truth more than an old error

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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“I can promise to be sincere, but not to be impartial.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Let there be truth between us.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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One must keep repeating the Truth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Errors belong to libraries; truth, to the human mind.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Wisdom is found only in truth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Truth must be repeated again and again, because error is constantly being preached round about.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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All truths are old, and all that we have to do is recognize and utter them anew.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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I can promise to be sincere, but I cannot promise to be impartial.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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If it is the greatest truth that you seek, the plants can direct you.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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A stated truth loses its grace, but a repeated error appears insipid and ridiculous.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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It will be! the mass is working clearer! Conviction gathers, truer, nearer! The mystery which for Man in Nature lies We dare…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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A great artist... must be shaken by the naked truths that will not be comforted. This divine discontent, this disequilibrium, this state…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, following blind instinct, after an appearance of naturalness. The one leads…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that they forfeit their originality in recognising a truth…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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It is not always needful for truth to take a definite shape; it is enough if it hovers about us like a…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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For usually people resist as long as they can to dismiss the fool they harbor in their bosom, they resist to confess…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“Whatever truths or fables you may find in a thousand books, it is all a tower of Babel unless love holds it…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Everything that we call Invention or Discovery in the higher sense of the word is the serious exercise and activity of an…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“Unhappily, moreover, on such occasions, a multitude of painful discoveries about my own sex were forced upon me; and, in truth, I…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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But who will dare to speak the truth out clear? The few who anything of truth have learned, And foolishly did not…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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As all Nature's thousands changes But one changeless God proclaim; So in Art's wide kingdom ranges One sole meaning still the same:…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“He could not deny that the beauty, the youth, the gracefulness, of the countess had made some impression on him: but his…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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What men usually say of misfortunes, that they never come alone, may with equal truth be said of good fortune; nay, of…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The main thing is to have a soul that loves the truth and harbours it where he finds it. And another thing:…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The Primal Plant is going be the strangest creature in the world, which Nature herself must envy me. With this model and…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Mystery is truth's dancing partner.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Wisdom is only found in truth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Nothing is more damaging to the truth than an old error.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Wisdom is only found in truth. [Ger., Die Weisheit ist nur in der Wahrheit.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The brilliant passes, like the dew at morn; The true endures, for ages yet unborn.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“I prefer an injurious truth to a useful error. Truth heals any pain it may inflict on us.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I never believed in trying to do anything. Whatever I set out to do I found I had already accomplished.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

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We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There is no patriotic art and no patriotic science.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The connoisseur of art must be able to appreciate what is simply beautiful, but the common run of people is satisfied with ornament

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Nothing is worse than active ignorance.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Let us not dream that reason can ever be popular. Passions, emotions, may be made popular; but reason remains ever the property of an…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Our foibles are really what make us lovable.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Giving is the business of the rich.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I look upon all four Gospels as thoroughly genuine, for there shines forth from them the reflected splendor of a sublimity proceeding from Jesus…

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Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe