All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
The deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of skepticism with faith.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human history is fundamentally defined by the struggle between skepticism and faith.
This quote by Goethe emphasizes that the overarching theme of human history revolves around the ongoing conflict between doubt and belief. While various events and narratives shape our past, the tension between skepticism—questioning and doubting—and faith—believing without proof—remains a core struggle that influences individual lives and collective societies alike.
Themes
SkepticismFaithHistoryConflictPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the philosophical themes in literature, one might quote Goethe to illustrate the tension between doubt and belief.
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
I'm an atheist. But I absolutely love religions and the rituals. Even though I don't believe in God. We celebrate pretty much every religion in our family with the kids. They love it, and when they say, 'Are we Jewish?' or 'Are we Catholic?' I say, 'Well, I'm not, but you can choose when you're 18. But isn't this fun that we do seders and the Advent calendar?'
Jodie FosterRead
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
Christopher HitchensRead
As an atheist, I think there are lots of things religions get up to which are of value to non-believers - and one of those things is trying to be a bit better than we normally manage to be.
Alain De BottonRead
The substance of man cannot be measured by Gross National Product.
E. F. SchumacherRead
Night thoughts have a different color than day thoughts, a different slant, more than anything else they know all the secret paths and chinks in the armor they can take advantage of to force their way into consciousness.
Christa WolfRead
I was brought up in a Jewish home, but I was brought up to be human - not fanatical, which is something that I don't appreciate at all. I learned to become a humanist and not to dwell on the differences between Jews and Christians.
Marcel MarceauRead