Inspirational Quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Poet)

Inspirational Quotations by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Poet)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was the greatest icon in the German literary and cultural pantheon. This master of world literature was a polymath: not only was he a poet, novelist, playwright, historian, and natural philosopher, but he also held several government positions at Weimar and made scientific discoveries.

Goethe gained early fame with his first novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774; The Sorrows of Young Werther.) Written as a collection of letters by the protagonist, this sentimental epistolary novel tells the story of a young man who falls in love with a woman engaged to another man.

Goethe also wrote hundreds of essays, many volumes of lyric poetry, and an in-depth dissertation on the physics of light and color contrasting his theories against Newton’s.

Goethe is most famous for his magnum opus Faust, published as Faust, Part One (1808) and Faust, Part Two (1832.) Goethe started writing Faust at age 23 and finished it a few months before his death six decades later. This two-part poetic drama is based on a classic German legend, which in turn is based on an actual magician who lived in northern Germany in the fifteenth century.

Goethe’s Faust tells the story of a brilliant scholar named Heinrich Faust, who is very successful yet unhappy in life. He forsakes God, makes a dangerous deal with the Devil, and exchanges his soul for unlimited power, knowledge, and worldly pleasures. Celebrated for its themes of damnation, witchcraft, sexual betrayal, and freeform philosophic contemplation, Faust is considered one of the greatest works of German literature.

Appreciation for Goethe and his works throughout Europe and America added much to the dissemination of German culture worldwide, with significant effects on scholarship, education, and philosophy, as well as literature throughout the 19th century.

In addition to his literary work, Goethe was also a geologist, botanist, anatomist, physicist, and science historian. His most notable scientific contributions include his theory of plant metamorphosis and his theory of colors.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Oddity, Fear, Peculiarity

Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Romance

The ideal of beauty is simplicity and tranquility.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We cannot escape a contradiction in ourselves; we must try and resolve it. If the contradiction comes from others, it does not affect us: it is their affair.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I never believed in trying to do anything. Whatever I set out to do I found I had already accomplished
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Accomplishment

I am what I am, so take me as I am.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Awareness, Realization, Acceptance

A purpose you impart is no longer your own.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Purpose

As to the value of conversions, God only can judge.—He alone can know how wide are the steps which the soul has to take before it can approach to a community with him, to the dwelling of the perfect, or to the intercourse and friendship of higher natures.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I hate all bungling like sin, but most of all bungling in state affairs, which produces nothing but mischief to thousands and millions.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Mistakes

Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions. Its infallibility is nothing but identity. Two times two is not four, but it is just two times two, and that is what we call four for short. But four is nothing new at all. And thus it goes on and on in its conclusions, except that in the higher formulas the identity fades out of sight.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Mathematics

Literature is a fragment of a fragment; of all that ever happened, or has been said, but a fraction has been written, and of this but little is extant.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Literature

Whenever I hear people talking about liberal ideas, I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Ideas, Giving

Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Sympathy

Every second is of infinite value.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Carpe-diem, The Present

Unless we are accustomed to them from early youth, splendid chambers and elegant furniture had best be left to people who neither have nor can have any thoughts.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Luxury

The senses do not deceive; it is the judgment that deceives.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Superstition is the poetry of life. It is inherent in man’s nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon, as it can do it with safety.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Superstition

Life teaches us to be less severe with ourselves and others.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The child, offered the mother’s breast,
Will not in the beginning grab it;
But soon it clings to it with zest.
And thus at wisdom’s copious breasts
You’ll drink each day with greater zest.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Wisdom

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Expectations, Realistic Expectations, Acceptance, Courage, Awareness, Realization, Perfection

Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Purpose

Sin writes histories, goodness is silent.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: One liners, Sin

Time is my estate: to Time I’m heir.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Time Management

A judge who cannot punish, in the end associates themselves with the criminal.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Justice

Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Consequences

A clever man commits no minor blunders.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A man is well equipped for all the real necessities of life if he trusts his senses, and so cultivates them that they remain worthy of being trusted.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Photography

In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Learning

As our inclinations, so our opinions.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Topics: Opinion