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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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Books by and about Johann von Goethe