Ought Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

12 Ought quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All Ought quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s page

Goethe’s few lines on what we ought to pursue blend poetic sensibility with a quiet insistence on personal responsibility. Though brief, they offer a thoughtful glimpse into his balance of feeling and ethical resolve.

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Humans fear reason, but they ought to fear stupidity- for reason can be hard, but stupidity can be fatal.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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Painting predicates what man wants to see, and what man ought to see, not what he ordinarily sees.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Toleration ought in reality to be merely a transitory mood. It must lead to recognition. To tolerate is to affront.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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One ought, everyday, to hear a song, read a fine poem, and, if possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The theater has often been at variance with the pulpit; they ought not to quarrel. How much is it to be wished…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Alas, that we should be so unwilling to listen to the still and holy yearnings of the heart! A god whispers quite…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Tolerance should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood; it ought to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Generally speaking, an author's style is a faithful copy of his mind. If you would write a lucid style, let there first…

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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

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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

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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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