Existence Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

18 Existence quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All Existence quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s page

Goethe’s verses on life balance the storm of emotion with the calm of reason, inviting readers to linger on the delicate interplay of feeling and thought.

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Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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A distracted existence leads us to no goal

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Art is long, life is short; judgement difficult, opportunity transient.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The whole art of living consists in giving up existence in order to exist.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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Yes! to this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true; He only earns his freedom…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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If I work incessantly to the last, nature owes me another form of existence when the present one collapses.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Voluntary dependence is the wonderful form of existence, and how could that be possible without love?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Certain faults are necessary for the existence of the individual. We would resent it if old friends were to get rid of…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Vanity is a desire of personal glory, the wish to be appreciated, honoured, and run after, not because of one's personal qualities,…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Wild dreams torment me as I lie. And though a god lives in my heart, though all my power waken at his…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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And I like those authors best whose scenes describe my own situation in life-- and the friends who are about me whose…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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To me the external existence of my soul is proved from my idea of activity. If I work incessantly until my death,…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“When the sound and wholesome nature of man acts as an entirety, when he feels himself in the world as in a…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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When we see the many grave-stones which have fallen in, which have been defaced by the footsteps of the congregation, which lie…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves…

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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When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined; when I see how all our energies…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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More by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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There is no patriotic art and no patriotic science.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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Nothing is worse than active ignorance.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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Our foibles are really what make us lovable.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Giving is the business of the rich.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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