Spirit Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I am the Spirit that denies.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The spirit from which we act is the principal matter.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What a mighty spirit in a narrow bosom. [Ger., Welch' hoher Geist in einer engen Brust.]

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Everything that frees our spirit without giving us control of ourselves is ruinous.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you want to reach the infinite, then explore every aspect of the finite.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Whatever liberates our spirit, without also giving us mastery over ourselves, is destructive.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ah! my poor brain is racked and crazed, My spirit and senses amazed!

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Do not, I beg you, look for anything behind phenomena. They are themselves their own lesson.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; Whats genuine, shall posterity inherit.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What people call the spirit of the times is mostly their own spirit in which the times mirror themselves.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Nature does not suffer her veil to be taken from her, and what she does not choose to reveal to the spirit,…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Analysis and synthesis are both as necessary to the thinking spirit as inspiration and expiration to the organism.

— 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

At the end of life thoughts hitherto impossible come to the collected mind, like good spirits which let themselves down from the…

— 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

It is not always needful for truth to take a definite shape; it is enough if it hovers about us like a…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

From inaccessible mountain range by way of desert untrod by human foot to the ends of the unknown seas, the breath of…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Sweet moonlight, shining full and clear, Why do you light my torture here? How often have you seen me toil, Burning last…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Continue to make the demands of the day your immediate concern, and take occasion to test the purity of your hearts and…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I am the spirit that negates. And rightly so, for all that comes to be Deserves to perish wretchedly; 'Twere better nothing…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The thought of death leaves me in perfect peace, for I have a firm conviction that our spirit is a being of…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“You are aware of only one unrest; Oh, never learn to know the other! Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast,…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

No limit, no definition, may restrict the range or depth of the human spirit's passage into its own secrets or the world's.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wind is the loving Wooer of waters; Wind blends together Billows all-foaming. Spirit of man, Thou art like unto water! Fortune of…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So much has already been said about Shakespeare that there doesn't seem to be anything more to say; yet it is the…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is a great pleasure to transport one's-self into the spirit of the times; to see how a wise man has thought…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We who didn't inherit political power nor are made to acquire riches like nothing better than that which expands and solidifies the…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe