Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Once more I am a wanderer, a pilgrim, through the world. But what else are you?”

“Unsere Wünsche sind die Vorboten der Fähigkeiten, die in uns liegen.”

“It's true that nothing in this world makes us so necessary to others as the affection we have for them.”

“When a nation which has long groaned under the intolerable yoke of a tyrant rises at last and throws off its chains, do you call that weakness? The man who, to rescue his house from the flames, finds his physical strength redoubled, so that he lifts burdens with ease which in the absence of excitement he could scarcely move; he who under the rage of an insult attacks and puts to flight half a score of his enemies,—are such persons to be called weak? My good friend, if resistance be strength, how can the highest degree of resistance be a weakness?”

“Ho tante cose in me, e ciò che sento per lei divora tutto; ho tante cose, e senza di lei non ho più nulla.”

“Ich habe so viel, und die Empfindung an ihr verschlingt alles; ich habe so viel, und ohne sie wird mir alles zu Nichts.”

“Was gibt uns wohl den schönsten Frieden,Als frei am eignen Glück zu schmieden”

“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.”

“I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon it.”

“Euch bedaur ich, unglückselige Sterne,Die ihr schön seid und so herrlich scheinet,Dem bedrängten Schiffer gerne leuchtet,Unbelohnt von Göttern und von Menschen:Denn ihr liebt nicht, kanntet nie die Liebe!Unaufhaltsam führen ewge StundenEure Reihen durch den weiten Himmel.Welche Reise habt ihr schon vollendet!Seit ich weilend in dem Arm der LiebstenEuer und der Mitternacht vergessen”

“In meinen Adern welches Feuer! In meinem Herzen welche Glut!”

“Sometimes I don't understand how another can love her, is allowed to love her, since I love her so completely myself, so intensely, so fully, grasp nothing, know nothing, have nothing but her!”

“How often do I lull my seething blood to rest, for you have never seen anything so unsteady, so uncertain, as this heart.”

“it hurts me when we can only travel a short stretch on the same road”

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”

“Es ist ein einförmig Ding um das Menschengeschlecht. Die meisten verarbeiten ihre Zeit, um zu leben, und das bißchen, das ihnen von Freiheit übrig bleibt, ängstigt sie so, dass sie alle Mittel aufsuchen, um es los zu sein”

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.”

“O, het is met de verte als met de toekomst! Een wijd, schemerachtig vergezicht ligt voor ons, onze ziel en onze ogen drinken het in, en wij haken ernaar ons er helemaal aan over te geven, om in alle gelukzaligheid van één groot, heerlijk gevoel te zijn vervuld. Maar och, als we erop afvliegen, dan is alles zoals tevoren en staan wij in onze armoede, in onze beperktheid, en onze ziel dorst naar ontglipte lafenis.”

“one must submit, like a traveller who has to ascend a mountain: if the mountain was not there, the road would be both shorter and pleasanter; but there it is, and he must get over it.”

“The deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of scepticism with faith.”

“Talent develops in tranquility, character in the full current of human life.”

“All theory is gray, my friend. But forever green is the tree of life.”

“On top of the world, or in the depths of despair.”

“Medicine, and Law, and Philosophy -You've worked your way through every school,Even, God help you, Theology,And sweated at it like a fool.Why labour at it any more?You're no wiser now than you were before.You're Master of Arts, and Doctor too,And for ten years all you've been able to doIs lead your students a fearful danceThrough a maze of error and ignorance.And all this misery goes to showThere's nothing we can ever know.Oh yes you're brighter than all those relics,Professors and Doctors, scribblers and clerics,No doubts or scruples to trouble you,Defying hell, and the Devil too.But there's no joy in self-delusion;Your search for truth ends in confusion.Don't imagine your teaching will ever raiseThe minds of men or change their ways.And as for worldly wealth, you have none -What honour or glory have you won?A dog could stand this life no more.And so I've turned to magic lore;The spirit message of this art Some secret knowledge might impart.No longer shall I sweat to teach What always lay beyond my reach;I'll know what makes the world revolve,Its mysteries resolve,No more in empty words I'll deal -Creation's wellsprings I'll reveal!”

“But who will dare to speak the truth out clear?The few who anything of truth have learned,And foolishly did not keep truth concealed,Their thoughts and visions to the common herd revealed,Since time began we've crucified and burned”

“Sweet moonlight, shining full and clear,Why do you light my torture here?How often have you seen me toil,Burning last drops of midnight oil.On books and papers as I read,My friend, your mournful light you shed.If only I could flee this denAnd walk the mountain-tops again,Through moonlit meadows make my way,In mountain caves with spirits play -Released from learning's musty cell,Your healing dew would make me well!”

“Your suns and worlds are not within my ken,I merely watch the plaguey state of men.The little god of earth remains the same queer spriteAs on the first day, or in primal light.His life would be less difficult, poor thing,Without your gift of heavenly glimmering;He calls it Reason, using light celestialJust to outdo the beasts in being bestial.To me he seems, with deference to Your Grace,One of those crickets, jumping round the place,Who takes his flying leaps, with legs so long,Then falls to grass and chants the same old song;But, not content with grasses to repose in,This one will hunt for muck to stick his nose in.”

“Life is not light, but refracted colour.”

“A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.”

“„Was glänzt ist für den Augenblick geboren; Das Echte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren.”

“To what a world does the illustrious bard carry me! To wander over pathless wilds, surrounded by impetuous whirlwinds, where, by the feeble light of the moon, we see the spirits of our ancestors; to hear from the mountain-tops, mid the roar of torrents, their plaintive sounds issuing from deep caverns, and the sorrowful lamentations of a maiden who sighs and expires on the mossy tomb of the warrior by whom she was adored. I meet this bard with silver hair; he wanders in the valley; he seeks the footsteps of his fathers, and, alas! he finds only their tombs. Then, contemplating the pale moon, as she sinks beneath the waves of the rolling sea, the memory of bygone days strikes the mind of the hero, days when approaching danger invigorated the brave, and the moon shone upon his bark laden with spoils, and returning in triumph. When I read in his countenance deep sorrow, when I see his dying glory sink exhausted into the grave, as he inhales new and heart-thrilling delight from his approaching union with his beloved, and he casts a look on the cold earth and the tall grass which is so soon to cover him, and then exclaims, "The traveller will come, -- he will come who has seen my beauty, and he will ask, 'Where is the bard, where is the illustrious son of Fingal?' He will walk over my tomb, and will seek me in vain!”

“Sah ein Knab' ein Röslein stehn,Röslein auf der Heiden,war so jung und morgenschön,lief er schnell, es nah zu sehn,sah's mit vielen Freuden.Röslein, Röslein, Röslein rot,Röslein auf der Heiden.Knabe sprach: „Ich breche dich,Röslein auf der Heiden!“Röslein sprach: „Ich steche dich,dass du ewig denkst an mich,und ich will's nicht leiden.“Röslein, Röslein, Röslein rot,Röslein auf der Heiden.Und der wilde Knabe brach'sRöslein auf der Heiden;Röslein wehrte sich und stach,half ihm doch kein Weh und Ach,musst' es eben leiden.Röslein, Röslein, Röslein rot,Röslein auf der Heiden.”

“He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew.”

“Aber ich habe sie gehabt, ich habe das Herz gefühlt, die große Seele, in deren Gegenwart ich mir schien mehr zu sein, als ich war, weil ich alles war, was ich sein konnte.”

“Love grants in a moment what toil can hardly achieve in an age.”

“Mas o mau humor não seria antes uma irritação íntima em razão do sentimento de nossa própria insuficiência, um descontentamento em relação a nós mesmos, ao qual se junta sempre a inveja em razão de uma vaidade idiota? Quando vemos algumas pessoas felizes, sem que para isso tenhamos contribuído, essa felicidade nos é insuportável.”

“Die Welt ist voller Torheit, Dumpfheit, Inkonsequenz und Ungerechtigkeit. Es gehört viel Mut dazu, diesen nicht das Feld zu räumen.”

“[Ich bin] ein Teil von jener Kraft, die stets das Böse will und stets das Gute schafft.”

“Denn alles muß in Nichts zerfallen, wenn es im Sein beharren will.”

“Ja! diesem Sinne bin ich ganz ergeben, das ist der Weisheit letzter Schluß: nur der verdient sich Freiheit wie das Leben, der täglich sie erobern muß.”

“Did we force ourselves on you, or you on us?”

“Ganz war mein Herz an deiner SeiteUnd jeder Atemzug für dich.”

“It's irrelevant whether what one says is true or false: both will be contradicted.”

“Tolerance should really only be a passing attitude: it should lead to appreciation. To tolerate is to offend.”

“If we put ourselves in the place of other people, the jealousy and hatred we so often feel about them would disappear, and if we put others in our place, pride and conceit would greatly diminish.”

“For many people, one of the most frustrating aspects of life is not being able to understand other people's behavior.”

“Edel sei der Mensch, hilfreich und gut! Denn das allein unterscheidet ihn von allen Wesen, die wir kennen.”

“Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want.”

“Wer lebtMan sieht die Blumen welkenUnd die Blätter fallen,aber man sieht auchdie Früchte reifenund die Knospen keimen.Das Leben gehörtden Lebendigen anund wer lebt,muss auf Wechsel gefasst sein.”

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”