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Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The world remains ever the same.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It is better to be deceived by one's friends than to deceive them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Live dangerously and you live right.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Character develops itself in the stream of life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I love those who yearn for the impossible.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The deed is everything, the glory is naught.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
On all the peaks lies peace.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The credit of advancing science has always been due to individuals and never to the age.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Precaution is better than cure.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Talk well of the absent whenever you have the opportunity.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nothing is worth more than this day.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe