Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"But the youths lay calmly sleeping; And the angel, their protector, Spake before the throne of glory: “I have watched beside the sleepers, Made them turn in slumber ever, That the damps of yonder cavern Should not cramp their youthful limbs; And the rocks around I ’ve opened, That the sun at rising, setting, May give freshness to their cheeks. So they lie in rest and quiet, In the bliss of happy dreams.” So they lay; and still, beside them, Lay the dog in peaceful slumber, Never whimpering in his sleep."

"Es war ein König in Tule Gar treu bis an das Grab, Dem sterbend seine Buhle Einen gold'nen Becher gab."

"What is not in a man cannot come out of him surely."

"Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, Den können wir erlösen."

"The child's desire to have distinctions made in his ideas grew stronger every day. Having learned that things had names, he wished to hear the name of every thing supposing that there could be nothing which his father did not know. He often teased him with his questions, and caused him to inquire concerning objects which, but for this, he would have passed without notice. Our innate tendency to pry into the origin and end of things was likewise soon developed in the boy. When he asked whence came the wind, and whither went the flame, his father for the first time truly felt the limitation of his own powers, and wished to understand how far man may venture with his thoughts, and what things he may hope ever to give account of to himself or others. The anger of the child, when he saw injustice done to any living thing, was extremely grateful to the father, as the symptom of a generous heart. Felix once struck fiercely at the cook for cutting up some pigeons. The fine impression this produced on Wilhelm was, indeed, erelong disturbed, when he found the boy unmercifully tearing sparrows in pieces and beating frogs to death. This trait reminded him of many men, who appear so scrupulously just when without passion, and witnessing the proceedings of other men. The pleasant feeling, that the boy was producing so fine and wholesome an influence on his being, was, in a short time, troubled for a moment, when our friend observed, that in truth the boy was educating him more than he the boy."

"Nur der verdient sich Freiheit wie das Leben Der täglich sie erobern muß."

"Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or creditors before we have had time to look round."

"Ich bin der Geist der stets verneint."

"Gut! Ein Mittel, ohne Geld Und Arzt und Zauberei zu haben: Begib dich gleich hinaus aufs Feld, Fang an zu hacken und zu graben, Erhalte dich und deinen Sinn In einem ganz beschraunken Kreise, Ernauhre dich mit ungemischter Speise, Leb Mit dem Vieh als Vieh, and acht es nicht fur Raub, Den Acker, den du erntest, selbst zu dungen; Das ist das beste Mittel, glaub, Auf achtzig Jahr dich zu verjungenl"

"Dem Reichen übergibt der Baumeister mit dem Schlüssel des Palastes alle Bequemlichkeit und Behäbigkeit, ohne irgend etwas davon mitzugenießen. Muß sich nicht allgemach auf diese Weise die Kunst von dem Künstler entfernen, wenn das Werk wie ein ausgestattetes Kind nicht mehr auf den Vater zurückwirkt? Und wie sehr mußte die Kunst sich selbst befördern, als sie fast allein mit dem öffentlichen, mit dem, was allen und also auch dem Künstler gehörte, sich zu beschäftigen bestimmt war!"

"The folly! Every man in turn would still His own peculiar notions magnify! If Islam mean submission to God’s will, May we all live in Islam, and all die."

"Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient. To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome. Every beginning is cheerful: the threshold is the place of expectation. The boy stands astonished, his impressions guide him: he learns sportfully, seriousness comes on him by surprise. Imitation is born with us: what should be imitated is not easy to discover. The excellent is rarely found, more rarely valued. The height charms us, the steps to it do not: with the summit in our eye, we love to walk along the plain. It is but a part of art that can be taught: the artist needs it all. Who knows it half, speaks much, and is always wrong: who knows it wholly, inclines to act, and speaks seldom or late. The former have no secrets and no force : the instruction they can give is like baked bread, savory and satisfying for a single day; but flour cannot be sown, and seed-corn ought not to be ground. Words are good, but they are not the best. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is the highest matter. Action can be understood and again represented by the spirit alone. No one knows what he is doing while he acts aright, but of what is wrong we are always conscious. Whoever works with symbols only is a pedant, a hypocrite, or a bungler. There are many such, and they like to be together. Their babbling detains the scholar: their obstinate mediocrity vexes even the best. The instruction which the true artist gives us opens the mind; for, where words fail him, deeds speak. The true scholar learns from the known to unfold the unknown, and approaches more and more to being a master."

"What wise or stupid thing can man conceive That was not thought of in ages long ago?"

"I know a little of navigation: / War, trade, and piracy, allow, / As three in one, no separation."

"Doesn't surprise me that Christ our Lord preferred to live with whores & sinners, seeing I go in for that myself."

"I feel I'm happily inspired now on Classical soil: The Past and Present speak louder, more charmingly. Here, as advised, I leaf through the works of the Ancients With busy hands, and, each day, with fresh delight. But at night Love keeps me busy another way: I become half a scholar but twice as contented. And am I not learning, studying the shape Of her lovely breasts: her hips guiding my hand?"

"Da stehe ich nun, ich armer Thor!<br"

"Zwey Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust."

"Ein echter deutscher Mann mag keinen Franzen leiden,<br"

"Schön war ich auch, und das war mein Verderben."

"Es gibt Fälle, ... wo jeder Trost niederträchtig und Verzweiflung Pflicht ist."

"The fate of the architect is the strangest of all. How often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion, to produce buildings into which he himself may never enter."

"A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form."

"Of old the sacred Koran did they cite, They named the verse and chapter ever blest, And each good Mussulman, as was but right, Reverenced, and felt his conscience was at rest. The modern Dervish nothing better knows, But prates of old and new with endless zest; Each day our most admired disorder grows. O sacred Koran! O eternal rest!"

"My son, whoever wishes to keep a secret, must hide from us that he possesses one. Self complaisance over the concealed destroys its concealment."

"Alles Gescheite ist schon gedacht worden. Man muss nur versuchen, es noch einmal zu denken."

"Law is mighty, mightier necessity."

"Once a man's thirty, he's already old, He is indeed as good as dead. It's best to kill him right away."

"I love those who yearn for the impossible."

"The deed is everything, the glory nothing."

"Beloved, don't fret that you gave yourself so quickly! Believe me, I don't think badly or wrongly of you. The arrows of Love are various: some scratch us, And our hearts suffer for years from their slow poison. But others strong-feathered with freshly sharpened points Pierce to the marrow, and quickly inflame the blood. In the heroic ages, when gods and goddesses loved, Desire followed a look, and joy followed desire."

"All Nine often used to come to me, I mean the Muses: But I ignored them: my girl was in my arms. Now I've left my sweetheart: and they've left me, And I roll my eyes, seeking a knife or rope. But Heaven is full of gods: You came to aid me: Greetings, Boredom, mother of the Muse."

"Is it so big a mystery what god and man and world are? No! but nobody knows how to solve it so the mystery hangs on."

"Much there is I can stand. Most things not easy to suffer I bear with quiet resolve, just as a God commands it. Only a few things I find as repugnant as snakes and poison. These four: tobacco smoke, bedbugs and garlic and Christ."

"Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht,<br"

"Es irrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt."

"Bin ich ein Gott? Mir wird so licht!"

"Die Botschaft hör ich wohl, allein, mir fehlt der Glaube"

"Grau, theurer Freund, ist alle Theorie,<br"

"Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live."

"Wer Recht behalten will und hat nur eine Zunge,<br"

"Meine Ruh' ist hin,<br"

"Three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot; that it be securely founded; that it be successfully executed."

"The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity."

"Tränenreiche Männer sind gut. Verlasse mich jeder, der trocknen Herzens, trockner Augen ist!"

"One is never satisfied with a portrait of a person that one knows."

"Es gibt kein äußeres Zeichen der Höflichkeit, das nicht einen tiefen sittlichen Grund hätte. Die rechte Erziehung wäre, welche dieses Zeichen und den Grund zugleich überlieferte."

"Niemand ist mehr Sklave, als der sich für frei hält, ohne es zu sein."

"Wer nicht von dreitausend Jahren Sich weiß Rechenschaft zu geben, Bleib im Dunkeln unerfahren, Mag von Tag zu Tage leben."

"Was glänzt, ist für den Augenblick geboren;<br"