Quote

Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Age: 82 †
Born: 1749
Born: August 22
Died: 1832
Died: March 22
Aphorist
Art Critic
Art Theorist
Autobiographer
Botanist
Composer
Diarist
Diplomat
Jurist
Lawyer
Librarian
Librettist
Literary
Frankfurt/Main
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Goethe
goethe
johann wolfgang von goethe
joh. wolfg. von goethe
j. w. von goethe
Wish
Facts
Possesses
Keep
Wishes
Must
Hiding
Whoever
Hide
Secret
Fact

More quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Image
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Enjoy what you can, endure what you must.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Our senses don't deceive us: our judgment does
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that they forfeit their originality in recognizing a truth which has already been recognized by others.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Mannerism is always longing to have done, and has no true enjoyment in work. A genuine, really great talent, on the other hand, has its greatest happiness in execution.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Since you know me and my destiny only too well, you probably also know what attracts me to all unfortunate people.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
In politics as on a sickbed men toss from side to side in hope of lying more comfortably.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
It is in the half fools and the half wise that the greatest danger lies.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
There is nothing by which men display their character so much as in what they consider ridiculous... Fools and sensible men are equally innocuous. It is in the half fools and the half wise that the great danger lies.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
It used to happen, and still happens, to me to take no pleasure in a work of art at the first sight of it, because it is too much for me but if I suspect any merit in it, I try to get at it and then I never fail to make the most gratifying discoveries--to find new qualities in the work itself and new faculties in myself.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
Let us not dream that reason can ever be popular. Passions, emotions, may be made popular but reason remains ever the property of an elect few.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
People always fancy that we must become old to become wise but, in truth, as years advance, it is hard to keep ourselves as wise as we were.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
So dear night the half of life is, And the fairest half indeed.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
For usually people resist as long as they can to dismiss the fool they harbor in their bosom, they resist to confess a major mistake or to admit a truth that makes them despair.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Image
I do not now begin, - I still adore Her whom I early cherish'd in my breast Then once again with prudence dispossess'd, And to whose heart I'm driven back once more. The love of Petrarch, that all-glorious love, Was unrequited, and, alas, full sad.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe