Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. A dim vastness is spread before our souls; the perceptions of our mind are as obscure as those of our vision... But alas! when we have attained our object, when the distant 'there' becomes the present 'here,' all is changed; we are as poor and circumscribed as ever, and our souls still languish for unattainable happiness. The Sorrows of Young Werther

2. Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.

3. Behaviour is a mirror in which every one displays his own image.

4. I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing. The Sorrows of Young Werther

5. If I love you, what business is it of yours?

6. Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires: beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go.

7. The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

8. Wir sollen es mit den Kindern machen wie Gott mit uns, der uns am glücklichsten macht, wenn er uns in freundlichem Wahne so hintaumeln läßt. The Sorrows of Young Werther

9. You can’t, if you can’t feel it, if it neverRises from the soul, and swaysThe heart of every single hearer,With deepest power, in simple ways.You’ll sit forever, gluing things together,Cooking up a stew from other’s scraps,Blowing on a miserable fire,Made from your heap of dying ash.Let apes and children praise your art,If their admiration’s to your taste,But you’ll never speak from heart to heart,Unless it rises up from your heart’s space. Faust, First Part

10. Es ist nicht genug, zu wissen, man muß auch anwenden; es ist nicht genug, zu wollen, man muß auch tun.

11. I am not omniscient, but I know a lot. Faust, First Part

12. If ever I to the moment shall say:Beautiful moment, do not pass away!Then you may forge your chains to bind me,Then I will put my life behind me,Then let them hear my death-knell toll,Then from your labours you'll be free,The clock may stop, the clock-hands fall,And time come to an end for me! Faust

13. If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

14. Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away.

15. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

16. Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.

17. Ohne Hast, aber ohne Rast. - Without haste, but without rest.

18. 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. Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

19. The heights charm us, but the steps do not; with the mountain in our view we love to walk the plains.

20. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would have never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

21. The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

22. Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own. Maxims and Reflections

23. What matters creative endless toil, When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil? Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

24. Liebe ist eine ideale Sache, Ehe ist etwas wirklich. Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.