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He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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
Inspiration
Learning
Knowing
Language
Nothing
Languages
Foreign
Poetry

More quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The greater part of all the mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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My peace is gone, my heart is heavy. [Ger., Meine Ruh ist hin, Mein Herz ist schwer.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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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
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I will listen to anyone's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to yourself.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The eternal female draws us onward.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Everything that we call Invention or Discovery in the higher sense of the word is the serious exercise and activity of an original feeling for truth, which, after a long course of silent cultivation, suddenly flashes out into fruitful knowledge.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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To accept good advice is but to increase one's own ability.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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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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If the whole world I once could see On free soil stand, with the people free Then to the moment might I say, Linger awhile. . .so fair thou art.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Error is to truth as sleep is to waking. I have observed that one turns, as if refreshed, from error back to truth.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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What is the destiny of man, but to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Only the heart without a stain knows perfect ease. [Ger., Ganz unbefleckt geniesst sich nur das Herz.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Legislators and revolutionaries who promise both equality and liberty are visionaries and charlatans.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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We must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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What is not fully understood is not possessed.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Culture which smooth the whole world licks, Also unto the devil sticks.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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In happy ignorance, I sighed for a world I did not know, where I hoped to find every pleasure and enjoyment which my heart could desire and now, on my return from that wide world... how many disappointed hopes and unsuccessful plans have I brought back!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Every step of life shows much caution is required.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The misfortune in the state is, that nobody can enjoy life in peace, but that everybody must govern and in art, that nobody will enjoy what has been produced, but that every one wants to reproduce on his own account.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe