All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The desire to hold onto what we have is strong, and while change can be interesting, it often doesn't provide real benefits.
In this quote, Goethe expresses a sentiment about valuing stability and the things we possess. While he acknowledges that change can be intriguing and entertaining, he implies that it rarely leads to genuine profit or improvement in our lives. This suggests that there is comfort and security in retaining what we already have, and that not all changes are worthwhile.
Themes
ChangeStabilityPossessionsValueProfit
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of valuing traditions, one might quote Goethe to illustrate that change doesn't always lead to improvement.
More from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
All quotes βDestiny 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
Let us come together before we're annihilated.
Stevie WonderRead
I have no fears that on a purely merit basis, we will have an embarrassment of riches from which to choose in order to reach gender parity.
Justin TrudeauRead
In a change of masters the poor change nothing except their master's name.
PhaedrusRead
To seek visions, to dream dreams, is essential, and it is also essential to try new ways of living, to make room for serious experimentation, to respect the effort even where it fails.
Adrienne RichRead
The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.
James MadisonRead
The Russian people are suffering from economic fatigue and from disillusionment with the Allies! The world thinks the Russian Revolution is at an end. Do not be mistaken. The Russian Revolution is just beginning.
Alexander KerenskyRead