All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Nothing is more damaging to the truth than an old error.
Interpretation
Old misconceptions can distort our understanding of the truth.
This quote by Goethe emphasizes the importance of recognizing and correcting past mistakes or misunderstandings. It suggests that clinging to outdated beliefs not only hinders personal growth but can also prevent society from progressing towards a more accurate understanding of reality.
In practice
A speaker might use this quote when discussing the importance of updating scientific theories in light of new evidence.
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
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!
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside.
Time is generally the best doctor.
We don't want anything from the government but that furtive little fellow called the truth - which, by the way, they'll never give you - which you have to go out and find by talking to people.
We cannot judge fully of men's works by what we see, or what is said and thought of them; for man is prone to depreciate that which is really important, and to exact and extol what is trivial and of little worth. Many things which are hidden and unrecognized of human wisdom are nevertheless valuable and vitally important.
The wise man puts himself last and finds himself first.
I am grateful for all those dark years, even though in retrospect they seem like a long, bitter prayer that was answered finally.
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