Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I have found among my papers a sheet . . . in which I call architecture frozen music.

Help me to discover Thy truth, O Lord, and preserve me from those who have already found it

There is nothing in the world more pitiable than an irresolute man, oscillating between two feelings, who would willingly unite the two and who does not perceive that nothing can unite them

Investigate what is, and not what pleases.

I have possessed that heart, that noble soul, in whose presence I seemed to be more than I really was, because I was all that I could be.

Life is not anything, but an opportunity for something.

Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man's life has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires.

No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.

I know nothing more mocking than a devil that despairs.

On the pinnacle of success man does not stand firm long.

The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.

People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually.

Out of moderation a pure happiness springs.

Man... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.

He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.

He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.

Giving is the business of the rich.

That which is eternal in Woman lifts us above.

I am certain that I have been here as I am now a thousand times before, and I hope to return a thousand times... Man is a dialogue between nature and God. On other planets this dialogue will doubtless be of a higher and profounder character. What is lacking is Self-Knowledge. After that the rest will follow.

One must keep repeating the Truth.

Time does not relinquish its rights, either over human beings or over mountains.