Action Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thought expands, but paralyzes; action animates, but narrows.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Action has magic, grace and power in it.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ambition and love are the wings of great actions.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How can one learn to know oneself? Never by introspection, rather by action.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Conscience is the virtue of the observers not the agents of action

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The highest cannot be spoken; it can only be acted.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To be active is the primary vocation of man.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are few who have at once thought and capacity for action. Thought expands, but lames; action animates, but narrows.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are but few who have ideas and are, at the same time, capable of action. Ideas enlarge but stymie, action enlivens…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Idea and experience will never coincide in the center; only through art and action are they united.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How can we learn self-knowledge? Never by taking thought but rather by action. Try to do your duty and you'll soon discover…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

English plays, Atrocious in content, Absurd in form, Objectionable in action, Execrable EnglishTheatre.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The one who acts is always without conscience; nobody has a conscience but the contemplative person.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Let's plunge ourselves into the roar of time, the whirl of accident; may pain and pleasure, success and failure, shift as they…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Words are good, but there is something better. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Words are good, but there is something better. The best cannot be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Mathematics can remove no prejudices and soften no obduracy. It has no influence in sweetening the bitter strife of parties, and in…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin…

— 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

I must consider more closely this cycle of good and bad days which I find coursing within myself. Passion, attachment, the urge…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Quite often, as life goes on, when we feel completely secure as we go on our way, we suddenly notice that we…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Self knowledge is best learned not by contemplation, but by action.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The safest thing is always to try to convert everything that is in us and around us into action; let the others…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Whoever makes it a rule to test action by thought, thought by action, cannot falter, and if he does, will soon find…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What is the true test of character unless it be its progressive development in the bustle and turmoil, in the action and…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The rainbow mirrors human aims and action. Think, and more clearly wilt thou grasp it, seeing Life is but light in many-hued…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Cursed Mammon be, when he with treasures To restless action spurs our fate! Cursed when for soft, indulgent leisures, He lays for…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How can we know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Begin at once to do your duty and immediately you…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe