Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. A poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre-director, and critic, Goethe wrote a wide range of works, including plays, poetry and aesthetic criticism, as well as treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour.

Quotes

There is no better deliverance from the world than through art; and a man can form no surer bond with it than through art.

Art
He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew.

Life
The happy do not believe in miracles.
Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again.
Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but is sure to repent of every ill-judged outlay.
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.

Duty
Talent develops in tranquillity, character in the full current of human life.
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
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 labor on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut.
Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
Only learn to seize good fortune, for good fortune is always here.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.
Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.
The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them
If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.
We know accurately only when we know little; with knowledge doubt increases.
Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.
The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth.
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.