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In society every man is taken for what he gives himself out to be but he must give himself out to be something. Better to be slightly disagreeable than altogether insignificant.

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
Character
Give
Disagreeable
Better
Altogether
Must
Insignificant
Giving
Slightly
Every
Gives
Something
Taken
Men
Society

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It is a very hard and troublesome thing to dispose of whole, half, and quarter-mistakes to sift them and assign the portion of truth to its proper place.
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They should be ashamed of themselves, all these sober people!
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The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.
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[W]hat counts is that one perceives excellence and dares to give it expression, which sounds little but is in fact a great deal.
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To be sure, a good work of art can and will have moral consequences, but to demand of the artists moral intentions, means ruiningtheir craft.
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The suffering may be moral or physical and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys himself, as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever.
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Character is constructed amidst the tempests of the World
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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.
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If you are convinced of a matter, you must take sides or you don't deserve to succeed.
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Since Time is not a person we can overtake when he is gone, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing.
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Of the truly creative no one is ever master it must be left to go its own way.
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Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and draws near the master.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Ah, how often I've cursed those foolish pages, That showed my youthful sufferings to everyone! If Werther had been my brother, and I'd killed him, His sad ghost could hardly have persecuted me more.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Tolerance should, strictly speaking, be only a passing mood it ought to lead to acknowledgment and appreciation. To tolerate a person is to affront him.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The highest goal that man can achieve is amazement.
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Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Daily life is more instructive than the most effective book.
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.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe