A flippant, frivolous man may ridicule others, may controvert them, scorn them; but he who has any respect for himself seems to have renounced the right of thinking meanly of others.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Great thoughts and a pure heart, that is what we should ask from God.
Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.
Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.
We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.
It is after all the greatest art to limit and isolate oneself.
Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
Science arose from poetry... when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.
The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.
The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.
Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.
Everything in the world may be endured except continual prosperity.
Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.
The world remains ever the same.
That I be not as those are who spend the day in complaining of headache and the night in drinking the wine which gives the headache!
I never knew a more presumptuous person than myself. The fact that I say that shows that what I say is true.
There is nothing insignificant in the world. It all depends on the point of view.
Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.
If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.
There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.
If I love you, what business is it of yours?
The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principal part.
Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.
Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.
All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.
It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
In art the best is good enough.
This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.
Every spoken word arouses our self-will.
One cannot develop taste from what is of average quality but only from the very best.
Music is either sacred or secular. The sacred agrees with its dignity, and here has its greatest effect on life, an effect that remains the same through all ages and epochs. Secular music should be cheerful throughout.
Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture.
Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.
Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.
Doubt grows with knowledge.
I love those who yearn for the impossible.
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.
Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.
We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.
We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.
An unused life is an early death.
When ideas fail, words come in very handy.
Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.
All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.
