All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
The child, offered the mother's breast, Will not in the beginning grab it; But soon it clings to it with zest. And thus at wisdom's copious breasts You'll drink each day with greater zest.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the natural progression of learning and attachment, suggesting that wisdom is initially approached with hesitation but becomes deeply embraced over time.
Goethe's quote metaphorically compares the initial rejection of wisdom to a child's reluctance to take its mother's breast. It illustrates how, like a child that eventually clings to its mother's nourishment with eagerness, individuals may initially struggle with or resist wisdom but will ultimately come to appreciate and seek it out passionately as they grow and learn.
Themes
WisdomLearningGrowthUnderstandingKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
During a keynote speech on education, you might quote this to emphasize the importance of nurturing a love for learning.
More from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
All quotes →Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself step by step. To have seen my position so clearly, and yet to have acted so like a child!
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Similar quotes
Incestuous, homogeneous fiefdoms of self-proclaimed expertise are always rank-closing and mutually self-defending, above all else.
Glenn GreenwaldRead
If I cannot add to my own low level of understanding, I could ill afford to try to raise that of others, seeing that it belongs to our Creator and Lord to give much or little.
Saint IgnatiusRead
Any person without invincible prejudice who had the same experience would come to the same broad conclusion, viz., that things hitherto held impossible do actually occur.
Oliver LodgeRead
Everything you possess of skill, and wealth, and handicraft, wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?
RumiRead
Let every man be master of his time.
William ShakespeareRead
What are we going to get out of life? This can understandably be a question of fundamental importance to us. We begin with certain basic needs and desires. It is important to have a comfortable home, plenty of food, a meaningful and well-paying job, comfort, companionship, and joy. However, many of us have not fully realized a simple, basic principle: for our receiving to take place, we must first give. Giving and receiving are two aspects of the same law of life.
John TempletonRead