87 Quotes About Goethe

Oh my God, but art is long / and our life is fleeting.

If you had swum across the furthest oceanAnd seen the vastness of infinityThough dread of death might seize you, you'd still seeThe rolling waves in never-ceasing motionYou'd still see something: Schools of dolphins swimmingAcross the green and placid waters, skimmingThe clouds, the sun and the moon, stars overhead -You will see nothing in that void all roundYou will not hear your footsteps where you treadBeneath your feet, you'll feel no solid ground

Ah, o que eu sei, toda a gente o pode saber! Mas o meu coração só a mim pertence…

You spend too much time on ephemeras. The majority of modern books are merely wavering reflections of the present. They disappear very quickly. You should read more old books. The classics. Goethe. What is merely new is the most transitory of all things. It is beautiful today, and tomorrow merely ludicrous.

However confused I become, I will always hold close the notion that I could find freedom. I could leave this prison if I liked, if I wanted to … or if I didn’t see any other way. And if I did, I would not give you the satisfaction of burying me under a priest.

I am proud of my heart alone, it is the sole source of everything, all our strength, happiness and misery. All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.

I treat my heart like a sick child and gratify its every fancy.

If it were Hegel, I might suspect it means nothing. But Goethe means something, always.