Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann WolfgangGoethetə/; German: ; 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him exist...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth28 August 1749
CountryGermany
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.
Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
Yes! To this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true; He only earns his freedom and existence Who daily conquers them anew.
The poet should size the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal
The persons born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.
Where there is much light, the shadow is deep
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).
Wealth and speed are what the world admires, what each pursues. Railways, express mails, steamships and every possible facility for communications are the achievement in which the civilized world view and revels, only to languish in mediocrity by that very fact. Indeed, the effect of this diffusion is to spread the culture of the mediocre.
Wealth lost is something lost, honor lost is something lost: Courage lost all is lost.
Those are dead even for this life who hope for no other.
We need a constitution, we need rules, but we don't need a wall,
When I err every one can see it, but not when I lie
Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us self-control is disastrous.
What have they done to you, my poor child?