Tag: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Whoever makes it a rule to test action by thought, thought by action, cannot falter, and if he does, will soon find his way back to the right road.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The confidant of my vices is my master, though he were my valet.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is better to do the smallest thing in the world than to hold half an hour to be too small a thing.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Everyone believes in his youth that the world really began with him, and that all merely exists for his sake.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What I possess, seems far away to me, and what is gone becomes reality.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Maybe I shouldn’t have included this one.  I think he’s saying that we live in the past.  But I’m not even sure.  But it sounds so wise how could I leave it out! 

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