Goethe

“Everyone has to work out his own destiny. - Goethe”

“Men grieve [Mephistopheles] so with the days of their lamenting, [he] even hate[s] to plague them with [his] torments.”

“When he comes to the doorhe always looks mocking and half-way angry.You can see he has sympathy for nothing.It's written on his foreheadthat he can love no one.”

“Being full of mischief, they love to listen;they gladly obey, for they like to betray you,pretending to be sent from Heaven,and lisping like angels, while they lie.”

“What you inherit from your fathermust first be earned before it's yours.”

“Glib tongues frill up their hash of knowledgefor mankind in polished speechesthat are no more than vaporous windsrustling the fallen leaves in autumn.”

“Two souls alas! are dwelling in my breast”

“Aria di primavera, perché mi desti? Tu lusinghi e dici: io do in rugiada gocciole di cielo. Ma il tempo del mio sfiorire è presso, vicina è la bufera che abbatte la mia fronda.”

“Lo que importa más nunca debe de estar a merced de lo que importa menos.”

“It is ever true that he who does nothing for others, does nothing for himself.”

“Beauty is everywhere a very welcome guest.”

“You at -all things considered- what you are. Put on your head perukes with myriad curls, stalk about on foot-high stilts, still what you are, you must always remain.”

“So vertraulich, so heimlich hab' ich nicht leicht ein Plätzchen gefunden, und dahin lass' ich mein Tischchen aus dem Wirtshause bringen und meinen Stuhl, trinke meinen Kaffee da und lesen meinen Homer.”

“Las sociedades más agradables son aquellas en que reina un sereno respeto mutuo entre sus miembros”

“I know I can trust in my heart…that she…dare I, can I express heaven in a few words? That she loves me.”

“The limits of my language are the limits of my universe.”

“Belirmekte olan bütünüyle önemli bir şey gözlerimizin önüne gelir, gözlerimiz gibi duygularımız da onun içine karışmak ister ve biz, ah tüm varlığımızla kendimizi ona vermeyi, büyük ve muhteşem tek bir duygunun tüm hazzıyla dolmayı özleriz. - Ah, oraya vardığımızdaysa, orası şimdi burası olmuşsa, her şey her zamanki haline bürünür, zavallılığımızın ve sınırlılığımızın içinde kalakalırız, ruhumuzsa kaçırdığımız huzura özlem duyar.”

“Du reste je déteste tout ce qui ne fait que m’instruire, sans augmenter mon activité ou l’animer directement.”

“We all walk in mysteries. We are surrounded by an atmosphere about which we still know nothing at all.”

“Iznad naroda je ljudskost.”

“Când e lipsim nouă înșine, totul ne lipsește.”

“Un autor își strică opera dacă o publică într-o ediție revăzută, chiar dacă din punct de vedere poetic a devenit acum mai bună. Prima impresie e cea hotărâtoare, și omul e astfel alcătuit, încât îl poti convinge de cele mai nemaipomenite lucruri; totul se lipește imediat de suflet, dar vai de acela care vrea sa curețe și să șteargă cea a fost lipit.”

“Natura nu mai găsește nicio ieșire din labirintul forțelor încâlcite și contradictorii, și atunci omul trebuie să moară.”

“De ce oare fluviul geniului izbucnește atât de rar și atât de rar se revarsă în valuri puternice și vă cutremură sufletul uimit?”

“...oamenii fericiți sunt aceia care trăiesc asemenea copiilor, își duc păpușile în brațe, le îmbracă și le dezbracă, dau târcoale, cu mare respect, cutiei în care mama a încuiat zaharul, iar când, în sfârșit, au căpătat bucățica de zahăr, o mănâncă cu poftă și strigă: ”Mai dă-mi!”...Fericite ființe!”

“Mă întorc în mine însumi și găsesc o lume!”

“Ah! două suflete-s în mine! Cum se zbatÎn piept să nu mai locuiască împreună! Unul de lumestrâns mă ţine, încleştat; cu voluptate, celălaltputernic către cereşti limanuri mă îndrumă.”

“Eğer gönüller gerçekten aydınlıksa, güneş ışığına gerek kalmaz.Başkalarının esirgediği şeyi biz kendi kalbimizde buluyoruz..”

“Tot ce sclipeşte ţine doar o clipă, ce-i cu temei în veci va fi păstrat.”

“We're only really thinking when we can't think out fully what we are really thinking about!”

“When we treat man as he is we make him worse than he is. When we treat him as if he already was what he potentially could be We make him what he should be.”

“Der Mensch muss bei dem Glauben verharren, dass das Unbegreifliche befreidlich sei; er würde sonst nicht forschen.”

“How clearly I have seen my condition, yet how childishly I have acted. How clearly I still see it, and yet show no sign of improvement.”

“Das Ewig Weibliche zieht uns hinan.”

“Night is the other half of life, and the better half.”

“The greatest evil that can befall man is that he should come to think ill of himself.”

“Insofar as he makes use of his healthy senses, man himself is the best and most exact scientific instrument possible. The greatest misfortune of modern physics is that its experiments have been set apart from man, as it were, physics refuses to recognize nature in anything not shown by artificial instruments, and even uses this as a measure of its accomplishments.”

“The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.”

“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.”

“Through many a long day you'll be taught That what you once did without thinking, As easy as if it were eating or drinking, Must be done in order: one! two! three! But truly, this though factory of ours Is like some weaver's masterpiece: One treadle stirs a thousand threads, This way and that the shuttles whistle, Threads flow invisibly, one ... Read morestroke Ties a thousand knots .... The philosopher steps in And proves to you it had to be so; The first was so, the second was so, And therefore the third and fourth were so. If the first and second hadn't existed, The third and fourth would never have existed. And this is praised by every scholar, But never a one becomes a weaver. To know and describe a living thing You first get rid of all its spirit: Then the parts are all in the palm of your hand, And all that you lack is the spirit that binds them! Encheiresis naturae, chemists call it, And fool themselves and never know it”

“What's done is yet to come.”

“If you don't feel it, you'll never get it.”

“There are no means of safety against superior qualities of another person but to love him.”

“see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which gain have no further end than to prolong a wretched existence; and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation”

“Now I find my good menAre gathered in the nightTo wait in silence, not to sleepAnd the glorious word of libertyThey whisper and murmurTill in unaccustomed strangenessOn the steps of our temperOnce again in delight they cryFreedom! Freedom!”

“Wenn die Blattläuse auf den Rosenzweigen sitzen und sich hübsch dick und grün gesogen haben, dann kommen die Ameisen und saugen ihnen den filtrierten Saft aus den Leibern. Und so geht's weiter, und wir haben's so weit gebracht, daß oben immer an einem Tage mehr verzehrt wird, als unten in einem beigebracht werden kann.”

“Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless.”

“Publishers are all cohorts of the devil; there must be a special hell for them somewhere.”

“If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.”

“The rich want good wine, the poor, plenty of wine.”