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Literature is a fragment of a fragment. Of all that ever happened, or has been said, but a fraction has been written and of this but little is extant.

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
Ever
Fragment
Little
Fraction
Fractions
Fragments
Written
Happened
Literature
Littles
Extant

More quotes by 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
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One would give generous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Most pioneers are at the mercy of doubt at the beginning, whether of their worth, of their theories, or of the whole enigmatic field in which they labour.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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To rule is easy, to govern difficult.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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I am very anxious to please the public, particularly as it lives and lets live.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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[Nature's] crown is Love. Only through Love can we come near her. She puts gulfs between all things, and all things strive to be interfused. She isolates everything, that she may draw everything together. With a few draughts from the cup of Love she repays for a life full of trouble.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Time itself is an element.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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One should not wish anyone disagreeable conditions of life but for him who is involved in them by chance, they are touchstones of characters and of the most decisive value to man.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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How can one learn to know oneself? Never by introspection, rather by action.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of skepticism with faith.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Not art and science only, but patience will be required for the work.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Man, be he who he may, experiences a last piece of good fortune and a last day. [Ger., Der Mensch erfahrt, er sei auch wer er mag, Ein letztes Gluck und einen letzten Tag.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Ohne Hast, aber ohne Rast. - Without haste, but without rest.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Truth has to be repeated constantly, because Error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude. In the Press and Encyclopaedias, in Schools and Universities, everywhere Error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having Majority on its side.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Wanted: A dog that neither barks nor bites, eats broken glass and shits diamonds.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe