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

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I hate all explanations they who make them deceive either themselves or the other party,-generally both.
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Women are silver dishes into which we put golden apples.
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To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years.
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The old lose one of the greatest privileges of man, for they are no longer judged by their contemporaries.
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Thus one can observe that those who proclaim piety as their goal and purpose usually turn into hypocrites.
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Truth is a torch, but a terrific one therefore we all try to reach it with closed eyes, lest we should be scorched.
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The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.
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But what is your duty? What the day demands. [Ger., Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages.]
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A human being needs only a small plot of ground on which to be happy, and even less to lie beneath.
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Fools and wise men are equally harmless. It is the half-fools and half-wise that are dangerous.
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All that is transitory is but a metaphor.
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The artist who is not also a craftsman is no good but, alas, most of our artists are nothing else.
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Mysteries are not necessarily miracles.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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We don't get to know anything but what we love.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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It is natural to man to regard himself as the final cause of creation.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The bed of flowers Loosens amain, The beauteous snowdrops Droop o'er the plain. The crocus opens Its glowing bud, Like emeralds others, Others, like blood. With saucy gesture Primroses flare, And roguish violets, Hidden with care And whatsoever There stirs and strives, The Spring's contented, If works and thrives.
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Treat a person as they are, they will remain so. Treat a person the way that person can be and is capable of being and that person will become as he or she can be and should be.
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What in us the women leave uncultivated, children cultivate when we retain them near us.
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Action has magic, grace and power in it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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For a brave man deserves a well-endowed girl.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe