The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
One usually thinks people to be more dangerous than they are. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
When two people are really happy about one another one can generally assume they are mistaken. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
I hate all bungling as I do sin, but particularly bungling in politics, which leads to the misery and ruin of many… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
Whenever I hear people talking about liberal ideas, I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds.… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
If you inquire what people are like here, I must answer, "The same as everywhere." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
There are people who make no mistakes because they never wish to do anything worth doing. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
People can only live with their equals, and not even with them; for in the long run they cannot tolerate that someone… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
People are always talking about originality; but what do they mean? As soon as we are born, the world begins to work… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
In politics people throw themselves, as on a sickbed, from one side to the other in the belief they will lie more… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
A lot of people do not care about your money until nearly penniless. They also do so with time — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
Do people conform to the instructions of us old ones? Each thinks he must know best about himself, and thus many are… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
When you are in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
What do people mean when they talk about unhappiness? It is not so much unhappiness as impatience that from time to time… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
Very few people love others for what they are; rather, they love what they lend them, their own selves, their own idea… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
Treat people the way they are and they will stay that way. Treat people the way they can become and they will… — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
The greatest piece of folly is that every man thinks himself compelled to hand down what people think they have known. — 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
