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Ability
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Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.
-Johann von Goethe
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People are so constituted that everybody would rather undertake what they see others do, whether they have an aptitude for it or not.
-Johann von Goethe
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The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.
-Johann von Goethe
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The really unhappy person is the one who leaves undone what they can do, and starts doing what they don't understand; no wonder they come to grief.
-Johann von Goethe
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Absence
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The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.
-Johann von Goethe
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Action(s)
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Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.
-Johann von Goethe
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Before you can do something you must first be something.
-Johann von Goethe
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How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflection? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then you shall know what is in thee.
-Johann von Goethe
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The deed is everything, the glory is naught.
-Johann von Goethe
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Then indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; What you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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When all is said the greatest action is to limit and isolate one's self.
-Johann von Goethe
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Adversity
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The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.
-Johann von Goethe
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Age
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Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.
-Johann von Goethe
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We must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
-Johann von Goethe
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The older we get the more we must limit ourselves if we wish to be active.
-Johann von Goethe
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It is only necessary to grow old to become more charitable and even indulgent. I see no fault committed by others that I have not committed myself.
-Johann von Goethe
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Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.
-Johann von Goethe
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Agreement
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One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them.
-Johann von Goethe
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Apathy
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God could cause us considerable embarrassment by revealing all the secrets of nature to us: we should not know what to do for sheer apathy and boredom.
-Johann von Goethe, source cited: Memoirs, by Riemer
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Aristocracy
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All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast.
-Johann von Goethe
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Art
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The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.
-Johann von Goethe
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The highest problem of any art is to cause by appearance the illusion of a higher reality.
-Johann von Goethe
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Personality is everything in art and poetry.
-Johann von Goethe
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One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is when we see its separate forms jumbled together.
-Johann von Goethe
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Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient.
-Johann von Goethe
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Authors & Writing
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A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.
-Johann von Goethe
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If any man wishes to write a clear style, let him first be clear in his thoughts.
-Johann von Goethe
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Every author in some degree portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.
-Johann von Goethe
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He who does not expect a million readers should not write a line.
-Johann von Goethe
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Beauty
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Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.
-Johann von Goethe
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Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself.
-Johann von Goethe
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Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.
-Johann von Goethe
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Belief
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He is dead in this world who has no belief in another.
-Johann von Goethe
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We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavor to erase them.
-Johann von Goethe
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If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.
-Johann von Goethe
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Birds
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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.
-Johann von Goethe, Elective Affinities, bk. 2, ch. 9, from Ottilie
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Books
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The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.
-Johann von Goethe
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Bravery
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Courage and modesty are the most unequivocal of virtues, for they are of a kind that hypocrisy cannot imitate; they too have this quality in common, that they are expressed by the same color.
-Johann von Goethe
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Wealth lost is something lost, honor lost is something lost: Courage lost all is lost.
-Johann von Goethe
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Rest not. Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.
-Johann von Goethe
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Challenges
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Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.
-Johann von Goethe
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The heights charm us, but the steps do not; with the mountain in our view we love to walk the plains.
-Johann von Goethe
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Change
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Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
-Johann von Goethe
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What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits.
-Johann von Goethe
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Human beings, by change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character
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Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.
-Johann von Goethe
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Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
-Johann von Goethe
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The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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Children
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We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.
-Johann von Goethe
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If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.
-Johann von Goethe
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Christianity
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The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.
-Johann von Goethe
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Color
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It is the color closest to light. In its utmost purity it always implies the nature of brightness and has a cheerful, serene, gently stimulating character. Hence, experience teaches us that yellow makes a thoroughly warm and comforting impression. With yellow the eye rejoices, the heart expands, the spirit is cheered and we immediately feel warmed. Many people feel an inclination to laugh when looking through a yellow glass.
-Johann von Goethe, Theory of Colors, 1840
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Common Sense
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Who is the most sensible person? The one who finds what is to their own advantage in all that happens to them.
-Johann von Goethe
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Common sense is the genius of humanity.
-Johann von Goethe
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Communication
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No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.
-Johann von Goethe
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Competition
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No wise combatant underestimates their antagonist.
-Johann von Goethe
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Concentration
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Don't dissipate your powers; strive to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it will surely repent of every ill-judged outlay.
-Johann von Goethe
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Consistency
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You accuse a woman of wavering affections, but don't blame her; she is just looking for a consistent man.
-Johann von Goethe
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Consumerism
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We are the slaves of objects around us, and appear little or important according as these contract or give us room to expand.
-Johann von Goethe
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Conviction
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The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
-Johann von Goethe
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Oh how sweet it is to hear one's own convictions from another's lips.
-Johann von Goethe
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Cowardice/Weakness
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The coward threatens when he is safe.
-Johann von Goethe
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Creativity
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To create something you must be something.
-Johann von Goethe
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Crime
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There is no crime of which I do not deem myself capable.
-Johann von Goethe
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Criticism
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The person of analytic or critical intellect finds something ridiculous in everything. The person of synthetic or constructive intellect, in almost nothing.
-Johann von Goethe
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Strike the dog dead, it's but a critic!
-Johann von Goethe
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Death
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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.
-Johann von Goethe
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A useless life is an early death.
-Johann von Goethe
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Deception/Lying
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None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes.
-Johann von Goethe
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There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables.
-Johann von Goethe
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Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.
-Johann von Goethe
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We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.
-Johann von Goethe
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Decisions
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The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.
-Johann von Goethe
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Desires
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I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower, and spend no more labour on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut.
-Johann von Goethe
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While man's desires and aspirations stir he cannot choose but err.
-Johann von Goethe
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Discovery
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No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.
-Johann von Goethe
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Doubt
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I will listen to anyone's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to yourself.
-Johann von Goethe
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We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.
-Johann von Goethe
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Dreams
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Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
-Johann von Goethe
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Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
According to: http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.htmlthe lines are attributed to John Anster in a 'very free translation' of Faust from 1835See author: W. H. Murray
-Johann von Goethe
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Duty
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How can we know ourselves? Never by reflection, but only through action. Begin at once to do your duty and immediately you will know what is inside you.
-Johann von Goethe
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Love can do much, but duty more.
-Johann von Goethe
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Earth
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The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit - this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.
-Johann von Goethe
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Eccentric, Eccentricity
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People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.
-Johann von Goethe
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Education
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They teach in academies far too many things, and far too much that is useless.
-Johann von Goethe
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Master and Doctor are my titles; for ten years now, without repose, I held my erudite recitals and led my pupils by the nose.
-Johann von Goethe
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Effort
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Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
-Johann von Goethe
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If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.
-Johann von Goethe
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Ego
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He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.
-Johann von Goethe
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Mastery passes often for egotism.
-Johann von Goethe
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Emotions
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All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
-Johann von Goethe
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Enemy, Enemies
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No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.
-Johann von Goethe
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Enjoyment
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He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy.
-Johann von Goethe
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Enjoy what thou has inherited from thy sires if thou wouldn't really possess it. What we employ and use is never an oppressive burden; what the moment brings forth, that only can it profit by.
-Johann von Goethe
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Envy / Jealousy
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Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not.
-Johann von Goethe
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Evil
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I know nothing more mocking than a devil that despairs.
-Johann von Goethe
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Excellence
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Excellence is rarely found, more rarely valued.
-Johann von Goethe
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Fame
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What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.
-Johann von Goethe
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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 von Goethe
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If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.
-Johann von Goethe
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Fate & Destiny
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It is only in misery that we recognize the hand of God leading good men to good.
-Johann von Goethe
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The destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinion of its young people, those under twenty-five.
-Johann von Goethe
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Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
-Johann von Goethe
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Fear
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It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.
-Johann von Goethe
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Feelings
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Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.
-Johann von Goethe
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Flattery
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Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.
-Johann von Goethe
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Fools, Foolishness
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It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.
-Johann von Goethe
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Forgiveness
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If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. They will make note of this and not remain in your debt long.
-Johann von Goethe
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People do not mind their faults being spread out before them, but they become impatient if called on to give them up.
-Johann von Goethe
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Fortune
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Only learn to seize good fortune, for good fortune's always here.
-Johann von Goethe
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Freedom
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Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it
-Johann von Goethe
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Only law can give us freedom.
-Johann von Goethe
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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.
-Johann von Goethe
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Friends
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In comradeship is danger countered best.
-Johann von Goethe
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Generosity
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Giving is the business of the rich.
-Johann von Goethe
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Genius
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The first and last thing required of genius is, love of the truth.
-Johann von Goethe
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The greatest genius will never be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources.
-Johann von Goethe
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Goals
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A distracted existence leads us to no goal.
-Johann von Goethe
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What by a straight path cannot be reached by crooked ways is never won.
-Johann von Goethe
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Their is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.
-Johann von Goethe
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One never goes further than when they do not know where they are going.
-Johann von Goethe
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Difficulties increase the nearer we approach the goal.
-Johann von Goethe
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Goodness
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Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds.
-Johann von Goethe
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Government
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The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.
-Johann von Goethe
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Growth
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Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution.
-Johann von Goethe
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Upon the creatures we have made, we are, ourselves, at last, dependent.
-Johann von Goethe
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Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
-Johann von Goethe
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Happiness
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He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
-Johann von Goethe
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The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.
-Johann von Goethe
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The man who is born with a talent which he was meant to use finds his greatest happiness in using it.
-Johann von Goethe
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What makes people happy is activity; changing evil itself into good by power, working in a God like manner.
-Johann von Goethe
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The highest happiness of man is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere what is unknowable.
-Johann von Goethe
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A person is never happy till their vague strivings has itself marked out its proper limitations.
-Johann von Goethe
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Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.
-Johann von Goethe
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Hate
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Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.
-Johann von Goethe
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Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.
-Johann von Goethe
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Health
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Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
-Johann von Goethe
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Heaven
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Those are dead even for this life who hope for no other.
-Johann von Goethe
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Help
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Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.
-Johann von Goethe
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Heroes/Heroism
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It is said, that no one is a hero to their butler. The reason is, that it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The butler, however, will probably know well how to estimate his equals.
-Johann von Goethe
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The hero draws inspiration from the virtue of his ancestors.
-Johann von Goethe
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History
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The history of mankind is his character.
-Johann von Goethe
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Home
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Be he a king or a peasant, he is happiest who finds peace at home.
-Johann von Goethe
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Honesty
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Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?
-Johann von Goethe
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Hope
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Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.
-Johann von Goethe
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In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
-Johann von Goethe
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Humanity
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Man... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.
-Johann von Goethe
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Humility
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One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.
-Johann von Goethe
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Ideas
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Whenever I hear people talking about liberal ideas, I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
-Johann von Goethe
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The mark of highest originality lies in the ability to develop a familiar idea so fruitfully that it would seem no one else would ever have discovered so much to be hidden in it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
-Johann von Goethe
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Identity
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Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
-Johann von Goethe
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Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.
-Johann von Goethe
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Ignorance & Stupidity
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There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
-Johann von Goethe
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Stupidity is without anxiety.
-Johann von Goethe
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Innovation
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The most original of authors are not so because they advance what is new, but more because they know how to say something, as if it had never been said before.
-Johann von Goethe
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Insanity
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We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
-Johann von Goethe, attributed; unsourced
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Intelligence
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Clever people are always the best conversations lexicon.
-Johann von Goethe
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The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything.
-Johann von Goethe
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Justice
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Every offense is avenged on earth.
-Johann von Goethe
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A judge who cannot punish, in the end associates themselves with the criminal.
-Johann von Goethe
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Kindness
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Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.
-Johann von Goethe
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Knowledge
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The greater the knowledge, the greater the doubt.
-Johann von Goethe
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What is not fully understood is not possessed.
-Johann von Goethe
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Never by reflection, but only by doing is self-knowledge possible to one.
-Johann von Goethe
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Language
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Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.
-Johann von Goethe
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Laughter
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Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at.
-Johann von Goethe
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Law
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We eagerly get hold of a law that serves as a weapon to our passions.
-Johann von Goethe
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Leadership
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Napoleon affords us an example of the danger of elevating one's self to the absolute, and sacrificing everything to the carrying out of an idea.
-Johann von Goethe
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Learning
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I've studied now Philosophy and Jurisprudence, Medicine -- and even, alas! Theology -- from end to end with labor keen; and here, poor fool with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before.
-Johann von Goethe
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In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.
-Johann von Goethe
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Everywhere, we learn only from those whom we love.
-Johann von Goethe
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No one as ever completed their apprenticeship.
-Johann von Goethe
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Letters (writing)
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Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
-Johann von Goethe
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Life
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What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
-Johann von Goethe
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There are nine requisites for contented living: HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure; WEALTH enough to support your needs; STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them; GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them; PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished; CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor; LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others; FAITH enough to make real the things of God; HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
-Johann von Goethe
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Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.
-Johann von Goethe
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Life is the childhood of our immortality.
-Johann von Goethe
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Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
-Johann von Goethe
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Listening
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People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually.
-Johann von Goethe
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Love
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We are shaped and fashioned by what whom we love.
-Johann von Goethe
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If I love you, what business is it of yours?
-Johann von Goethe
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Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.
-Johann von Goethe
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That is the true season of love; when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved as much before, and that no one will ever love in the same way again.
-Johann von Goethe
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Management
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If each one does their duty as an individual and if each one works in their own proper vocation, it will be right with the whole.
-Johann von Goethe
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Manners
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There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
-Johann von Goethe
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Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image
-Johann von Goethe
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Marriage
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When a wife has a good husband it is easily seen in her face.
-Johann von Goethe
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Mathematics
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Mathematicians are like Frenchman: whatever you say to them they translate Into their own language, and forthwith it is something entirely different.
-Johann von Goethe
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Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions. Its infallibility is nothing but identity. Two times two is not four, but it is just two times two, and that is what we call four for short. But four is nothing new at all. And thus it goes on and on in its conclusions, except that in the higher formulas the identity fades out of sight.
page 1754
-Johann von Goethe, In J. R. Newman (ed.) The World of Mathematics, New York: Simon and Schuster
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Media
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The world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish; the impressions remain flat and unconnected in the soul. Thus they are easily led by the opinions of others, are content to let their impressions be shuffled and rearranged and evaluated differently.
-Johann von Goethe
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Men & Women
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Girls we love for what they are; men for what they promise to be.
-Johann von Goethe
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Mind, the
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The human mind will not be confined to any limits.
-Johann von Goethe
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Mistakes
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A clever man commits no minor blunders.
-Johann von Goethe
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The best fortune that can fall to a man is that which corrects his defects and makes up for his failings.
-Johann von Goethe
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Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.
-Johann von Goethe
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Moderation
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Out of moderation a pure happiness springs.
-Johann von Goethe
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Money
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Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
-Johann von Goethe
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Motivational
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Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything.
-Johann von Goethe
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It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage.
-Johann von Goethe
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Who is sure of their own motives can in confidence advance or retreat.
-Johann von Goethe
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Music
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The effects of good music are not just because it's new; on the contrary music strikes us more the more familiar we are with it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Nature
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The unnatural, that too is natural.
-Johann von Goethe
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Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.
-Johann von Goethe
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In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Nature goes her own way and all that to us seems an exception is really according to order.
-Johann von Goethe
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Necessity
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To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
-Johann von Goethe
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Observation
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Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.
-Johann von Goethe
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Opinion
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No two men see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will apply in different ways a principle that they both acknowledge. The same man will, indeed, often see and judge the same things differently on different occasions: early convictions must give way to more mature ones. Nevertheless, may not the opinions that a man holds and expresses withstand all trials, if he only remains true to himself and others?
-Johann von Goethe
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Opportunity
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The right man is the one that seizes the moment.
-Johann von Goethe
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Passion
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Our passion are the true phoenixes; when the old one is burnt out, a new one rises from its ashes.
-Johann von Goethe
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Passions are vices or virtues to their highest powers.
-Johann von Goethe
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Past, the
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There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best as the past withdraws.
-Johann von Goethe
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Patience
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The little that is completed, vanishes from the sight of one who looks forward to what is still to do.
-Johann von Goethe
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Perfection
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Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.
-Johann von Goethe
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Persistence
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We can always redeem the man who aspires and strives.
-Johann von Goethe
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Austere perseverance, hash and continuous... rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistible greater with time.
-Johann von Goethe
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Persuasion
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Oral delivery aims at persuasion and making the listener believe they are converted. Few persons are capable of being convinced; the majority allow themselves to be persuaded.
-Johann von Goethe
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People have a peculiar pleasure in making converts, that is, in causing others to enjoy what they enjoy, thus finding their own likeness represented and reflected back to them.
-Johann von Goethe
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To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone.
-Johann von Goethe
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Secrecy has many advantages, for when you tell someone the purpose of any object right away, they often think there is nothing to it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Pessimism
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I will not be as those who spend the day in complaining of headache, and the night in drinking the wine that gives it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Philosophy
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The philosopher must station themselves in the middle.
-Johann von Goethe
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Photography
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Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.
-Johann von Goethe
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Politics
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In politics, as on the sickbed, people toss from side to side, thinking they will be more comfortable.
-Johann von Goethe
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Potential
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Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
-Johann von Goethe
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Power
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Napoleon for the sake of a good name broke in pieces half the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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Every man has enough power left to carry out that of which he is convinced.
-Johann von Goethe
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Praise
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If you treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
-Johann von Goethe
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Prejudice
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He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Present, the
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What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
-Johann von Goethe
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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.
-Johann von Goethe
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We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.
-Johann von Goethe
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Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach
-Johann von Goethe
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Procrastination
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If the mass of people hesitate to act, strike with swiftly and with boldness, the brave heart that understands and seizes opportunity can everything.
-Johann von Goethe
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Proverbial Wisdom
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A collections of anecdotes and maxims is the greatest of treasures for the man of the world, for he knows how to intersperse conversation with the former in fit places, and to recollect the latter on proper occasions.
-Johann von Goethe
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Public
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Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public.
-Johann von Goethe
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Purpose
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What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.
-Johann von Goethe
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A purpose you impart is no longer your own.
-Johann von Goethe
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Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Every person above the ordinary has a certain mission that they are called to fulfill.
-Johann von Goethe
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To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.
-Johann von Goethe
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Questions
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If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.
-Johann von Goethe
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Quotations
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Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.
-Johann von Goethe
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Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again.
-Johann von Goethe
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Reason
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Reason can never be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular, but reason will always remain the sole property of a few eminent individuals.
-Johann von Goethe
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Research
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By seeking and blundering we learn.
-Johann von Goethe
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Respect
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The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
-Johann von Goethe
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Retirement
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A person can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days.
-Johann von Goethe
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People may live as much retired from the world as they like, but sooner or later they find themselves debtor or creditor to some one.
-Johann von Goethe
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Revolution
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A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.
-Johann von Goethe
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Sacrifice
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We can offer up much in the large, but to make sacrifices in little things is what we are seldom equal to.
-Johann von Goethe
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Scholars, Scholarship
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A great scholar is seldom a great philosopher.
-Johann von Goethe
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Science
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Whether a person shows themselves to be a genius in science or in writing a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, or the deed, is living and can live on.
-Johann von Goethe
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The credit of advancing science has always been due to individuals and never to the age.
-Johann von Goethe
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Science has been seriously retarded by the study of what is not worth knowing and of what is not knowable.
-Johann von Goethe
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Secrets
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Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.
-Johann von Goethe
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Self Respect
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Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
-Johann von Goethe
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A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.
-Johann von Goethe
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Self-help
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If society gives up the right to impose the death penalty, then self-help will appear again and personal vendettas will be around the corner.
-Johann von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister, 1829
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Self-love
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Self-love exaggerates our faults as well as our virtues.
-Johann von Goethe
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Senses
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Taste is only to be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good but of the truly excellent. I therefore show you only the best works; and when you are grounded in these, you will have a standard for the rest, which you will know how to value, without overrating them.
-Johann von Goethe
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The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.
-Johann von Goethe
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Simplicity
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Nothing is true, but that which is simple.
-Johann von Goethe
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There is repetition everywhere, and nothing is found only once in the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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Soul
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One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
-Johann von Goethe
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Speeches (oratory)
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It is delivery that makes the orators success.
-Johann von Goethe
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I do not speak of what I cannot praise.
-Johann von Goethe
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Strength
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The people rate strength before everything.
-Johann von Goethe
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Success & Failure
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On the pinnacle of success man does not stand firm long.
-Johann von Goethe
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Everything in the world may be endured except continual prosperity.
-Johann von Goethe
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Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
-Johann von Goethe
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For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.
-Johann von Goethe
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Superstition
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Superstition is the poetry of life.
-Johann von Goethe
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Support
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Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.
-Johann von Goethe
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Sympathy
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Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
-Johann von Goethe
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Talent
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Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
-Johann von Goethe
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A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
-Johann von Goethe
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To understand one thing well is better than understanding many things by halves.
-Johann von Goethe
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Teamwork
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What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.
-Johann von Goethe
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Thought
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Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
-Johann von Goethe
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Thought expands, but paralyzes; action animates, but narrows.
-Johann von Goethe
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All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.
-Johann von Goethe
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Time
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Nothing is to be rated higher than the value of the day.
-Johann von Goethe
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We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright.
-Johann von Goethe
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One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
-Johann von Goethe
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Every situation, every moment -- is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.
-Johann von Goethe
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Travel
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Traveling is like gambling: it is always connected with winning and losing, and generally where it is least expected we receive, more or less than what we hoped for.
-Johann von Goethe
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Trust
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As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
-Johann von Goethe
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Truth
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It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.
-Johann von Goethe
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Understanding
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To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed -- That can make life a garden.
-Johann von Goethe
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The man of understanding finds everything laughable.
-Johann von Goethe
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So long as you live and work, you will be misunderstood; to that you must resign yourself once and for all. Be silent!
-Johann von Goethe
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Unrequited Love
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I do not now begin,--I still adore
Her whom I early cherish'd in my breast;
Then once again with prudence dispossess'd,
And to whose heart I'm driven back once more.
The love of Petrarch, that all-glorious love,
Was unrequited, and, alas, full sad...
(translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring)
-Johann von Goethe, (poems)
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War
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I don't know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy.
-Johann von Goethe
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Weakness
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Some of our weakness is born in us, some of it comes through education; it is a big question as to which gives us the most trouble.
-Johann von Goethe
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Wealth
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No one should be rich except those who understand it.
-Johann von Goethe
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The wealth that cannot be administered is a burden.
-Johann von Goethe
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He who is plenteously provided for from within, needs but little from without.
-Johann von Goethe
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Will, Willpower
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Those that are firm in their will mold the world to themselves.
-Johann von Goethe
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He who is firm in will molds the world to himself.
-Johann von Goethe
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Wisdom
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Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.
-Johann von Goethe
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This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.
-Johann von Goethe
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Wisdom is found only in truth.
-Johann von Goethe
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Wish, Wishes, Wishing
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We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.
-Johann von Goethe
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Women
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The Woman-Soul leadeth us upward and on!
-Johann von Goethe
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Words
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Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.
-Johann von Goethe
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Every spoken word arouses our self-will.
-Johann von Goethe
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When ideas fail, words come in very handy.
-Johann von Goethe
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World
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The world remains ever the same.
-Johann von Goethe
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Worth
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Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
-Johann von Goethe
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Youth
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Great endowments often announce themselves in youth in the form of singularity and awkwardness.
-Johann von Goethe
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Books by and about Johann von Goethe
