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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

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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
Half
Equally
Character
Ridiculous
Nothing
Consider
Great
Lies
Innocuous
Much
Fool
Deceit
Men
Danger
Fools
Wise
Display
Lying
Sensible

More quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Normally, people believe that, if they hear just words, that these words must lead to some thought.
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The experiences show us just as we are they make us see our own defects.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Over the trackless past, somewhere, Lie the lost days of our tropic youth, Only regained by faith and prayer, Only recalled by prayer and plaint, Each lost day has its patron saint!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Everything in the world may be endured, except only a succession of prosperous days. [Ger., Alles in der Welt lasst sich ertragen, Nur nicht eine Reihe von schonen Tagen.]
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Someone criticized an elderly man for wooing young women. He replied that that was the only way to rejuvenation, which was, afterall, everybody's wish.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Everything great and intelligent is in the minority
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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There are two things parents should give their children roots and wings. Roots to give them bearing and a sense of belonging, but also wings to help free them from constraints and prejudices and give them other ways to travel (or rather, to fly).
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The Bible grows more beautiful, as we grow in our understanding of it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The style of an author is a faithful copy of his mind.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Forget not that the man who cannot enjoy his own natural gifts in silence, and find his reward in the exercise of them, will generally find himself badly off.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A true German can't stand the French, Yet willingly he drinks their wines.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength, no strength that could not become a defect.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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When two people are really happy about one another one can generally assume they are mistaken.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Many hammer all over the wall and believe that with each blow they hit the nail on the head.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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As long as you are not aware of the continual law of Die and Be Again, you are merely a vague guest on a dark Earth.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth. [Ger., Das erste und letzte, was vom Genie gefordert wird, ist Wahreits-Liebe.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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What a man does not understand, he does not possess.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe