All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Truth has to be repeated constantly, because Error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude. In the Press and Encyclopaedias, in Schools and Universities, everywhere Error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having Majority on its side.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Truth must be reiterated as falsehoods are widely accepted and propagated by many.
This quote emphasizes the importance of consistently expressing the truth because misinformation is prevalent and often accepted as fact by the majority of people. Goethe suggests that truth is overshadowed by error due to its frequent dissemination across various platforms such as the media, educational institutions, and society at large, which creates a challenge for those seeking to uphold truth amidst widespread misconception.
Themes
TruthErrorWisdomSocietyKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of media literacy in today's world.
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
If I were a physician, and if I were allowed to prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence. For even if the Word of God were proclaimed in the modern world, how could one hear it with so much noise? Therefore, create silence.
Soren KierkegaardRead
When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons.
Sigmund FreudRead
A cup is useful only when it is empty; and a mind that is filled with beliefs, with dogmas, with assertions, with quotations is really an uncreative mind.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
The hunger of passions is the greatest disease.
Gautama BuddhaRead
I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.
Mahatma GandhiRead
What I learned from Mel Brooks was audacity - in performance as in life. Maybe you go too far, but try it.
Gene WilderRead