Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

• The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• The coward only threatens when he is safe.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Talk well of the absent whenever you have the opportunity.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Superstition is the poetry of life.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Science arose from poetry… when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Precaution is better than cure.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Passions are vices or virtues to their highest powers.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• One cannot develop taste from what is of average quality but only from the very best.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• On all the peaks lies peace.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (262)

Birth:	28th August, 1749
Death:	22nd March, 1832
Nationality:	German
Profession:	Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Politician

About

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was a German poet, novelist, philosopher, playwright, and politician. He wrote several plays include: Götz von Berlichingen, Clavigo, Stella, Iphigenia in Tauris, Egmont, Torquato Tasso, The Citizen General, The Natural Daughter, and Faust. He wrote several poems include: The King in Thule, Welcome and Farewell, Erlkönig, Prometheus, Roman Elegies, Hermann and Dorothea, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Marienbad Elegy. He wrote several novels include: The Sorrows of Young Werther, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Elective Affinities, and Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years.

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Births

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• 1926 - Robert Bly
• 1957 - Trisha Goddard
• 1944 - Wesley Kanne Clark Sr.
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Deaths

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• 1972 - Abraham Joshua Heschel
• 2000 - Victor Borge
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