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Music Is So Elevated That It Is Beyond The Reach Of Intellect And There Flows From It An Influence Which Is All-potent, And Which Noone Can Explain.

-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Music Is So Elevated

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Music Is So Elevated That It Is Beyond The Reach Of Intellect And There Flows From It An Influence Which Is All-potent, And Which Noone Can Explain.

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The Theater Has Often Been At Variance With The Pulpit; They Ought Not To Quarrel. How Much Is It To Be Wished That In Both The Celebration Of Nature And Of God Were Intrusted To None But Men Of Noble Minds.

Not Art And Science Only, But Patience Will Be Required For The Work.

Art And Science

A Man's Foibles Are What Makes Him Lovable.

Be Generous With Kindly Words, Especially About Those Who Are Absent.

We Cannot Too Soon Convince Ourselves How Easily We May Be Dispensed With In The World. What Important Personages We Imagine Ourselves To Be! We Think That We Alone Are The Life Of The Circle In Which We Move; In Our Absence, We Fancy That Life, Existence, Breath Will Come To A General Pause, And, Alas, The Gap Which We Leave Is Scarcely Perceptible, So Quickly Is It Filled Again; Nay, It Is Often The Place, If Not Of Something Better, At Least For Something More Agreeable.

Whoever Strikes At Marriage Either By Word Or Act Undermines The Foundation Of All Moral Society.

There Is Nothing By Which Men Display Their Character So Much As In What They Consider Ridiculous... Fools And Sensible Men Are Equally Innocuous. It Is In The Half Fools And The Half Wise That The Great Danger Lies.

Action Has Magic, Grace And Power In It.

We Who Didn't Inherit Political Power Nor Are Made To Acquire Riches Like Nothing Better Than That Which Expands And Solidifies The Power Of The Spirit.

Beware Of Dissipating Your Powers; Strive Constantly To Concentrate Them.

To Like Things Like, Whatever One May Ail; There Is Certain Help.

Sameness Leaves Us In Peace But It Is Contradiction That Makes Us Productive.

It Makes No Good To Point The Failures Out Without Showing At The Same Time The Remedy To Address Them.

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.

One Never Goes Further Than When They Do Not Know Where They Are Going.

Our Virtues And View Spring From One Root.

Art Is Constitutive-the Artist Determines Beauty. He Does Not Take It Over.

The Whole History Of The Christian Church Is A Mixture Of Errors And Violence.

Thou Tremblest Before Anticipated Ills, And Still Bemoanest What Thou Never Losest.

The Eye Doesn't See Any Shapes, It Sees Only What Is Differentiated Through Light And Dark Or Through Colors.

Waste Not A Day In Vain Digression; With Resolute, Courageous Trust Seek Every Possible Impression And Make It Firmly Your Posession You'll Then Work On Because You Must.

You Are Certainly Wrong To Compare Suicide ... With Great Accomplishments, Since It Cannot Be Considered As Anything But A Weakness. After All, It Is Easier To Die Than To Endure A Harrowing Life With Fortitude.

Behavior Is The Mirror In Which Everyone Shows Their Image.

Reason Can Never Be Popular. Passions And Feelings May Become Popular, But Reason Will Always Remain The Sole Property Of A Few Eminent Individuals.

For A Brave Man Deserves A Well-endowed Girl.

One Should Not Search For Anything Behind The Phenomena. They Themselves Are The Message.

If You Want To Understand Poetry, You Have To Go To Its Origin, If You Want To Understand The Poet, You Have To Go To The Poet's Home.

Properly Speaking, We Learn From Those Books Only That We Cannot Judge. The Author Of A Book That I Am Competent To Criticise Would Have To Learn From Me.

I Am What I Am, So Take Me As I Am!.

Take Me As I Am

However Often We Turn To It [the Koran] At First Disgusting Us Each Time Afresh, It Soon Attracts, Astounds, And In The End Enforces Our Reverence. . . . Its Style, In Accordance With Its Contents And Aim Is Stern, Grand, Terrible - Ever And Anon Truly Sublime - Thus This Book Will Go On Exercising Through All Ages A Most Potent Influence.

What One Has Wished For In Youth, In Old Age One Has In Abundance.

I Let Everyone Follow His Own Bent, That I May Be Free To Follow Mine.

With The Growth Of Knowledge Our Ideas Must From Time To Time Be Organized Afresh. The Change Takes Place Usually In Accordance With New Maxims As They Arise, But It Always Remains Provisional.

Several Classical Sayings That One Likes To Repeat Had Quite A Different Meaning From The Ones Later Times Attributed To Them.

If You Wish To Know The Mind Of A Man, Listen To His Words.

Each Traveler Should Know What He Has To See, And What Properly Belongs To Him, On A Journey.

I Hate All Bungling As I Do Sin, But Particularly Bungling In Politics, Which Leads To The Misery And Ruin Of Many Thousands And Millions Of People.

We Rather Confess Our Moral Errors, Faults, And Crimes Than Our Ignorance.

The Style Of Writing Required In The Great World Is Distinguished By A Free And Daring Grace, A Careless Security, A Fine And Sharp Polish, A Delicate And Perfect Taste; While That Fitted For The People Is Characterized By A Vigorous Natural Fulness, A Profound Depth Of Feeling, And An Engaging Naivete.

Every Need Whose True Satisfaction Is Denied Leads By Necessity To Faith.

Architecture Is Frozen Music. [ger., Die Backunst Ist Eine Erstarrte Musik.]

Blood Is A Very Special Juice.

Energy Will Do Anything That Can Be Done In This World.

Sowing Is Not As Difficult As Reaping.

Every Individual Who Is Not Creative Has A Negative, Narrow, Exclusive Taste And Succeeds In Depriving Creative Being Of Its Energy And Life.

Whatever Is The Object Of A Saint's Hope Is The Subject Of His Prayer.

When I Say To The Moment Flying; 'linger A While -- Thou Art So Fair!' Then Bind Me In Thy Bonds Undying, And My Final Ruin I Will Bear!

Everything We Do Has A Result. But That Which Is Right And Prudent Does Not Always Lead To Good, Nor The Contrary To What Is Bad.

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.

The Flowers Of Life Are But Illusions. How Many Fade Away And Leave No Trace.

The Evil One Has Left, The Evil Ones Remain. [ger., Den Bosen Sind Sie Los, Die Bosen Sind Geblieben.]

There Is No Way To Face The Great Advantages Of Another Person Than Through Love.

The Artist May Be Well Advised To Keep His Work To Himself Till It Is Completed, Because No One Can Readily Help Him Or Advise Him With It... But The Scientist Is Wiser Not To Withhold A Single Finding Or A Single Conjecture From Publicity.

Errors Belong To Libraries; Truth, To The Human Mind.

Our Foibles Are Really What Make Us Lovable.

To A Valet No Man Is A Hero. [ger., Es Gibt Fur Den Kammerdiener Keiner Helden.]

Nature Understands No Jesting. She Is Always True, Always Serious, Always Severe. She Is Always Right, And The Errors Are Always Those Of Man.

He Is The Happiest Man Who Can See The Connection Between The End And The Beginning Of Life.

I Will Be Lord Over Myself.

An Actor Should Take Lessons From A Painter And A Sculptor.

The Child, Offered The Mother's Breast, Will Not In The Beginning Grab It; But Soon It Clings To It With Zest. And Thus At Wisdom's Copious Breasts You'll Drink Each Day With Greater Zest.

The Present Is A Powerful Deity. [ger., Die Gegenwart Ist Eine Machtige Gottin.]

It Is Commonly The Personal Character Of A Writer Which Gives Him His Public Significance. It Is Not Imparted By His Genius. Napoleon Said Of Corneille, "were He Living I Would Make Him A King;" But He Did Not Read Him. He Read Racine, Yet He Said Nothing Of The Kind Of Racine.

Each Ten Years Of A Man's Life Has Its Own Fortunes, Its Own Hopes, Its Own Desires.

Every Man Bears Something Within Him That, If It Were Publicly Announced, Would Excite Feelings Of Aversion.

Deeply Earnest And Thoughtful People Stand On Shaky Footing With The Public.

What Am I Then...? Everything That I Have Seen, Heard, And Observed I Have Collected And Exploited. My Works Have Been Nourished By Countless Different Individuals, By Innocent And Wise Ones, People Of Intelligence And Dunces. Childhood, Maturity And Old Age All Have Brought Me Their Thoughts....their Perspectives On Life. I Have Often Reaped What Others Have Sowed. My Work Is The Work Of A Collective Being That Bears The Name Goethe.

The Soul Of Man Is Like To Water; From Heaven It Cometh, To Heaven It Riseth And Then Returning To Earth, Forever Alternating.

Every Step Of Life Shows Much Caution Is Required.

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.

Everything Is Hard Before It Is Easy.

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.

Money Lost, Something Lost. Honor Lost, Much Lost. Courage Lost, Everything Lost-better You Were Never Born

Lost Everything

To Make Something You Have To Be Something.

What Sort Of Faults May We Retain, Nay, Even Cherish In Ourselves? Those Faults Which Are Rather Pleasant Than Offensive To Others.

He Alone Deserves Liberty And Life Who Daily Must Win Them Anew.

Passions Are Vices Or Virtues To Their Highest Powers.

As Long As You Don't Practice It, This Dying And Becoming, You Are Only A Dreary Guest On This Dark Earth.

If You Start To Think Of Your Physical And Moral Condition, You Usually Find That You Are Sick.

Viewed From The Summit Of Reason, All Life Looks Like A Malignant Disease And The World Like A Madhouse.

One Cannot Develop Taste From What Is Of Average Quality But Only From The Very Best.

Nature Has Neither Kernel Nor Shell

Oh Happy He Who Still Can Hope In Our Day To Breathe The Truth While Plunged In Seas Of Error! What We Don't Know Is Really What We Need, And What We Know Is Of No Use To Us Whatever!

A Noble Soul Alone Can Noble Souls Attract; And Knows Alone, As Ye, To Hold Them.

If You Want Someone To Develop A Specific Trait, Treat Them As Though They Already Had It.

He Who Has A Task To Perform Must Know How To Take Sides, Or He Is Quite Unworthy Of It.

Culture Which Smooth The Whole World Licks, Also Unto The Devil Sticks.

A Great Artist... Must Be Shaken By The Naked Truths That Will Not Be Comforted. This Divine Discontent, This Disequilibrium, This State Of Inner Tension Is The Source Of Artistic Energy.

One Can't Dull A Project Better Than By Discussing It Repeatedly.

Light Has Called Forth One Organ To Become Its Like, And Thus The Eye Is Formed By The Light And For The Light So That The Inner Light May Emerge To Meet The Outer Light.

Distance... Is Like Futurity. A Dim Vastness Is Spread Before Our Souls; The Perceptions Of Our Mind Are As Obscure As Those Of Our Vision... But Alas! When We Have Attained Our Object, When The Distant 'there' Becomes The Present 'here,' All Is Changed; We Are As Poor And Circumscribed As Ever, And Our Souls Still Languish For Unattainable Happiness.

A Life Without Love, Without The Presence Of The Beloved, Is Nothing But A Mere Magic-lantern Show. We Draw Out Slide After Slide, Swiftly Tiring Of Each, And Pushing It Back To Make Haste For The Next.

One Never Learns To Understand Truly Anything But What One Loves.

The Little Man Is Still A Man.

Superstition Belongs To The Essence Of Mankind And Takes Refuge, When One Thinks One Has Suppressed It Completely, In The Strangest Nooks And Crannies; Once It Is Safely Ensconced There, It Suddenly Reappears.

The Worst Is That The Very Hardest Thinking Will Not Bring Thoughts. They Must Come Like Good Children Of God And Cry, "here We Are." You Expend Effort And Energy Thinking Hard. Then, After You Have Given Up, They Come Sauntering In With Their Hands In Their Pockets. If The Effort Had Not Been Made To Open The Door, However, Who Knows When They Could Have Come.

Oh God, How Do The World And Heavens Confine Themselves, When Our Hearts Tremble In Their Own Barriers!

Basic Characteristics Of An Individual Organism: To Divide, To Unite, To Merge Into The Universal, To Abide In The Particular, To Transform Itself, To Define Itself, And As Living Things Tend To Appear Under A Thousand Conditions, To Arise And Vanish, To Solidify And Melt, To Freeze And Flow, To Expand And Contract. Since These Effects Occur Together, Any Or All May Occur At The Same Moment.

One Would Give Generous Alms If One Had The Eyes To See The Beauty Of A Cupped Receiving Hand.

One Can Be Instructed In Society, One Is Inspired Only In Solitude.

The Shudder Of Awe Is Humanity's Highest Faculty, Even Though This World Is Forever Altering Its Values.

What Is The Universal? The Single Case. What Is The Particular? Millions Of Cases.

There Are But Two Roads That Lead To An Important Goal And To The Doing Of Great Things: Strength And Perseverance. Strength Is The Lot Of But A Few Privileged Men; But Austere Perseverance, Harsh And Continuous, May Be Employed By The Smallest Of Us And Rarely Fails Of Its Purpose, For Its Silent Power Grows Irresistibly Greater With Time.

Shakespeare Is A Great Psychologist, And Whatever Can Be Known Of The Heart Of Man May Be Found In His Plays.

I Laugh At My Heart, And Do Its Will

Our Friends Show Us What We Can Do; Our Enemies Teach Us What We Must Do.

For The Nature Of Women Is Closely Allied To Art

Say What We May Of The Inadequacy Of Translation, Yet The Work Is And Will Always Be One Of The Weightiest And Worthiest Undertakings In The General Concerns Of The World.

To Every One [nature] Appears In A Form Of His Own. She Hides Herself In A Thousand Names And Terms, And Is Always The Same.

What Sort Of God Would It Be, Who Only Pushed From Without.

The Work Of Art May Have A Moral Effect, But To Demand Moral Purpose From The Artist Is To Make Him Ruin His Work.

All Intelligent Thoughts Have Already Been Thought; What Is Necessary Is Only To Try To Think Them Again.

Behavior Is A Mirror In Which Every One Shows His Image. [ger., Das Betragen Ist Ein Spiegel In Welchem Jeder Sein Bild Zeigt.]

Painting Predicates What Man Wants To See, And What Man Ought To See, Not What He Ordinarily Sees.

A Man's Errors Are What Make Him Amiable.

Say What You Will Of Fortitude, But Show Me The Man Who Can Patiently Endure The Laughter Of Fools When They Have Obtained An Advantage Over Him. 'tis Only When Their Nonsense Is Without Foundation That One Can Suffer It Without Complaint.

A Stated Truth Loses Its Grace, But A Repeated Error Appears Insipid And Ridiculous.

People Are So Constituted That Everybody Would Rather Undertake What They See Others Do, Whether They Have An Aptitude For It Or Not.

Where The Light Is Brightest, The Shadows Are Deepest.

The Senses Do Not Deceive Us, But The Judgment Does.

The Sickness Of The Heart Is Most Easily Got Rid Of By Complaining And Soothing Confidence.

It Is Natural To Man To Regard Himself As The Object Of The Creation, And To Think Of All Things In Relation To Himself, And The Degree In Which They Can Serve And Be Useful To Him.

The March Of Intellect, Which Licks All The World Into Shape, Has Even Reached The Devil.

Where There Are No Women There Are No Good Manners

Common Sense Is The Genius Of Humanity.

For What One Has In Black And White, One Can Carry Home In Comfort.

Black And White

Music Is Either Sacred Or Secular. The Sacred Agrees With Its Dignity, And Here Has Its Greatest Effect On Life, An Effect That Remains The Same Through All Ages And Epochs. Secular Music Should Be Cheerful Throughout.

Thou Art In The End What Thou Art. Put On Wigs With Millions Of Curls, Set Thy Foot Upon Ell-high Rocks. Thou Abidest Ever--what Thou Art.

The Greater The Knowledge, The Greater The Doubt.

One Of The Most Striking Signs Of The Decay Of Art Is The Intermixing Of Different Genres.

Stupidity Is Without Anxiety.

Every Spoken Word Arouses Our Self-will.

The True, Prescriptive Artist Strives After Artistic Truth; The Lawless Artist, Following Blind Instinct, After An Appearance Of Naturalness. The One Leads To The Highest Peaks Of Art, The Other To Its Lowest Depths.

Our Passions Are The True Phoenixes; When The Old One Is Burnt Out, A New One Rises From Its Ashes.

Know'st Thou The Land Where The Lemon-trees Bloom, Where The Gold Orange Glows In The Deep Thicket's Gloom, Where A Wind Ever Soft From The Blue Heaven Blows, And The Groves Are Of Laurel And Myrtle And Rose!

Giving Is The Business Of The Rich.

To Be Active Is The Primary Vocation Of Man.

If A Man Or Woman Is Born Ten Years Sooner Or Later, Their Whole Aspect And Performance Shall Be Different.

God Made Man Simple, But How He Changed And Got Complicated Is Hard To Say.

Aptitudes Are Assumed, They Should Become Accomplishments. That Is The Purpose Of All Education.

I Love Those Who Yearn For The Impossible.

Life Is But A Preparation For What There Is To Come.

Classicism Is Health, Romanticisim Is Sickness.

Talent Develops In Quiet, Alone; Character Is Sharpened In The Torrent Of The World.

When The Boy Begins To Understand That The Visible Point Is Preceded By An Invisible Point, That The Shortest Distance Between Two Points Is Conceived As A Straight Line Before It Is Ever Drawn With Pencil And Paper...the Fountain Of All Thought Has Been Opened To Him...the Philosopher Can Reveal Him Nothing New, As A Geometrician He Has Discovered The Basis Of All Thought.

If You Live Criticizing People, You Won't Have Time To Love Them.

Help Me To Discover Thy Truth, O Lord, And Preserve Me From Those Who Have Already Found It

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.

Sacrificing Everything

The Older We Get The More We Must Limit Ourselves If We Wish To Be Active.

The Best Genius Is That Which Absorbs And Assimilates Everything Without Doing The Least Violence To Its Fundamental Destiny.

Everything In Science Depends On What One Calls An Aperçu, On Becoming Aware Of What Is At The Bottom Of The Phenomena. Such Becoming Aware Is Infinitely Fertile.

How Can You Come To Know Yourself? Never By Thinking, Always By Doing. Try To Do Your Duty, And You'll Know Right Away What You Amount To.

As To The Value Of Conversions, God Alone Can Judge. God Alone Can Know How Wide Are The Steps Which The Soul Has To Take Before It Can Approach To A Community With Him, To The Dwelling Of The Perfect, Or To The Intercourse And Friendship Of Higher Natures.

Modern Poets Add A Lot Of Water To Their Ink.

There Is A Politeness Of The Heart; This Is Closely Allied To Love.

On Top Of The World, Or In The Depths Of Despair.

A Great Scholar Is Seldom A Great Philosopher.

Great Philosophers

Unrest And Uncertainty Are Our Lot.

In The End We Retain From Our Studies Only That Which We Practically Apply.

Such Is The Frailty Of Man That Even Where He Makes The Truest And Most Forcible Impression In The Memory, In The Heart Of His Beloved, There Also He Must Perish.

Dispel Not, The Happy Delusions Of Children.

Talent Is Nurtured In Solitude; Character Is Formed In The Stormy Billows Of The World.

If I Say To The Moment: 'stay Now! You Are So Beautiful'!

One Errs As Long As One Strives.

People Always Fancy That We Must Become Old To Become Wise; But, In Truth, As Years Advance, It Is Hard To Keep Ourselves As Wise As We Were.

We Are Surrounded By Abysses, But The Greatest Of All Depths Is In Our Own Heart, And An Irresistible Leaning Leads Us There. Draw Thyself From Thyself!

The Most Fortunate Of Men, Be He A King Or Commoner, Is He Whose Welfare Is Assured In His Own Home.

If You Have Science And Art, You Also Have Religion; But If You Don't Have Them, You Better Have Religion.

These Auspicious Aspects, Which The Astrologers Subsequently Interpreted For Me, May Have Been The Causes Of My Preservation.

The Eternal Female Draws Us Onward.

Nothing Is Worth More Than This Day.

A Man Avails Himself Of The Truth So Long As It Is Serviceable; But He Seizes On What Is False With A Passionate Eloquence As Soon As He Can Make A Momentary Use Of It.

But One Must Know Where One Stands, And Where The Others Wish To Go.

Each One Of Us Must Carry Within The Proof Of Immortality, It Cannot Be Given From Outside Of Us. To Be Sure, Everything In Natureis Change But Behind The Change There Is Something Eternal.

A Person Hears Only What They Understand.

A Great Deal May Be Done By Severity, More By Love, But Most By Clear Discernment And Impartial Justice.

The Realization Of The Self Is Only Possible If One Is Productive, If One Can Give Birth To One's Own Potentialities.

Very Few People Love Others For What They Are; Rather, They Love What They Lend Them, Their Own Selves, Their Own Idea Of Them.

I Am Proud Of My Heart Alone, It Is The Sole Source Of Everything, All Our Strenght, Happiness & Misery. All The Knowledge I Possess Everyone Else Can Acquire, But My Heart Is All My Own

Rejoice That You Have Still Have A Long Time To Live, Before The Thought Comes To You That There Is Nothing More In The World To See.

There Is No Crime Of Which I Do Not Deem Myself Capable.

Too Rigid Scruples Are Concealed Pride.

There Is Nothing Worse Than Aggressive Stupidity.

All Understanding Begins In Wonder!

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.

What Then Is Your Duty? What The Day Demands.

Taste Is Only To Be Educated By Contemplation, Not Of The Tolerably Good But Of The Truly Excellent.

I Wait For The Morning Of My Tears

The Important Thing Is Not To Know More Than All Men, But To Know More At Each Moment Than Any Particular Man.

Generosity Wins Favour For Everyone, Especially When It Is Accompanied By Modesty.

You Don't Have To Travel Around The World To Understand That The Sky Is Blue Everywhere

There Is Nothing So Terrible As Activity Without Insight.

There Is No Outward Sign Of True Courtesy That Does Not Rest On A Deep Moral Foundation.

If Children Grew Up According To Early Indications, We Should Have Nothing But Geniuses.

Individuality Of Expression Is The Beginning And End Of All Art.

A Rainbow Which Lasts For A Quarter Of An Hour Is Looked At No Longer.

The One Who Acts Is Always Without Conscience; Nobody Has A Conscience But The Contemplative Person.

One Criticizes The English For Carrying Their Teapots Wherever They Go, Even Lugging Them Up Mount Etna. But Doesn't Every Nationhave Its Teapot, In Which, Even When Traveling, It Brews The Dried Bundles Of Herbs Brought From Home?

Mastery Is Often Taken For Egotism.

No Matter What One Says, You Can Recognize Only Those Matters That Are Equal To You. Only Rulers Who Possess Extraordinary Abilities Will Recognize And Esteem Properly Extraordinary Abilities In Their Subjects And Servants.

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