Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The most original of authors are not so because they advance what is new, but more because they know how to say something, as if it had never been said before.

Confronted by outstanding merit, there is no way of saving one's ego except by love

It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.

A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.

Mediocrity has no greater consolation than in the thought that genius is not immortal.

Nothing will change the fact that I cannot produce the least thing without absolute solitude.

Man can find no better retreat from the world than art, and man can find no stronger link with the world than art.

No two men see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will apply in different ways a principle that they both acknowledge. The same man will, indeed, often see and judge the same things differently on different occasions: early convictions must give way to more mature ones. Nevertheless, may not the opinions that a man holds and expresses withstand all trials, if he only remains true to himself and others?

Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.

There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis.

The master proves himselin recognizing his limitations.

The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.

Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.

One never learns to understand truly anything but what one loves.

Every offense is avenged on earth.

Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.

To have a positive religion is not necessary. To be in harmony with yourself and the universe is what counts, and this is possible without positive and specific formulation in words.

The whole history of the Christian Church is a mixture of errors and violence.

One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.

The Primal Plant is going be the strangest creature in the world, which Nature herself must envy me. With this model and the key to it, it will be possible to go on for ever inventing plants and know that their existence is logical; that is to say, if they do not actually exist, they could, for they are not the shadowy phantoms of a vain imagination, but possess an inner necessity and truth. The same law will be applicable to all other living organisms.

Nothing is more consonant with Nature than that she puts into operation in the smallest detail that which she intends as a whole.