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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
Lying
Sensible
Half
Equally
Character
Ridiculous
Nothing
Consider
Great
Lies
Innocuous
Much
Fool
Deceit
Men
Danger
Fools
Wise
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More quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Death is a commingling of eternity with time in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.
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Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
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It is not enough to have knowledge one must apply it. It is not enough to have wishes one must also accomplish it.
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I come more and more to the conclusion that one must take the side of the minority which is always the more intelligent one.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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When a wife has a good husband, it is easily seen on her face.
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Sin writes histories, goodness is silent. [Ger., Das Uebel macht eine Geschichte und das Gute keine.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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No sacred fane requires us to submit to insult.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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I hate all explanations they who make them deceive either themselves or the other party,-generally both.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Everything perfect in its kind has to transcend its own kind, it must become something different and incomparable. In some notes the nightingale is still a bird then it rises above its class and seems to suggest to every winged creature what singing is truly like.
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Is it life, I ask, is it even prudence, To bore thyself and bore the students?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Of the truly creative no one is ever master it must be left to go its own way.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Yes, I have finally arrived to this Capital of the World! I now see all the dreams of my youth coming to life... Only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The flowers of life are but illusions. How many fade away and leave no trace.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A state of true and universal tolerance is best ensured by leaving alone the peculiarities of men and peoples.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A king there was once reigning, Who had a goodly flea, Him loved he without feigning, As his own son were he!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Everyone only hears what he understands.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Who strives always to the utmost, him can we save.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A distracted existence leads us to no goal
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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While man's desires and aspirations stir he cannot choose but err.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A noble soul alone can noble souls attract And knows alone, as ye, to hold them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe