What is predestination? Answer: God is more powerful and wiser than we are, therefore he deals with us according to his pleasure. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
Whoever would do good in the world, ought not to deal in censure. We ought not to destroy, but rather construct. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
Art is a severe business; most serious when employed in grand and sacred objects. The artist stands higher than art, higher than… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
[W]hat counts is that one perceives excellence and dares to give it expression, which sounds little but is in fact a great… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
A great deal may be done by severity, more by love, but most by clear discernment and impartial justice. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
The sun had, in the meanwhile, sunk behind the Ettersberg. We felt in the wood the chill of the evening, and drove… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
I never believed in trying to do anything. Whatever I set out to do I found I had already accomplished. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image