Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything.

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but is sure to repent of every ill-judged outlay.

Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one.

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.

Everything in the world may be endured except continued prosperity.

If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.

Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.

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.

That is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way after us.

There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste.

To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state.

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

Everything has been thought of before, but the difficulty is to think of it again.

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten but they may start a winning game.

Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

If you start to think about your physical or moral condition, you usually find that you are sick.

Music, in the best sense, does not require novelty; no, the older it is, and the more we are accustomed to it, the greater its effect.

One ought, each day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.