Wish Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wishes are premonitions of abilities.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you wish a wise answer, you must put a rational question.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

But one must know where one stands, and where the others wish to go.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The older we get the more we must limit ourselves if we wish to be active.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Who longs in solitude to live, Ah! soon his wish will gain: Men hope and love, men get and give, and leave…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Beware of wishing for anything in youth, because you will get it in middle age.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The public wishes itself to be managed like a woman; one must say nothing to it except what it likes to hear.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If you wish to advance into the infinite, explore the finite in all directions.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are people who make no mistakes because they never wish to do anything worth doing.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I wish the crowd to feel itself well treated, Especially since it lives and lets me live.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The world runs on from one folly to another; and the man who, solely from regard to the opinion of others, and…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Someone criticized an elderly man for wooing young women. He replied that that was the only way to rejuvenation, which was, afterall,…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I reverence the individual who understands distinctly what he wishes; who unweariedly advances, who knows the means conducive to his object, and…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honour or…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One should not wish anyone disagreeable conditions of life; but for him who is involved in them by chance, they are touchstones…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is with art as with love: How can a man of the world,with all his distractions, keep the inwardness which an…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Go to the place where the thing you wish to know is native; your best teacher is there. Where the thing you…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is not enough to have knowledge; one must apply it. It is not enough to have wishes; one must also accomplish…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the measure of man.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Our wishes are presentiments of the abilities that lie in us, harbingers of what we will be able to accomplish.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe