Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

“What is the destiny of man, but to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness?”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:mansuffering

“Then, in happy ignorance, I sighed for a world I did not know, where I hoped to find every pleasure and enjoyment which my heart could desire; and now, on my return from that wide world, O my friend, how many disappointed hopes and unsuccessful...”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:hope

“young and tender though you be, I hope to see you moulder.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

topic:youth

“The world runs on from one folly to another; and the man who, solely from regard to the opinion of others, and without any wish or necessity of his own, toils after gold, honour, or any other phantom, is no better than a fool.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:foolishness

“Poor fool! in whose petty estimation all things are little.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:foolishnessweakness

“The suffering may be moral or physical; and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys himself, as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:mindsufferingcowardice

“Waste not a day in vain digression:With resolute, courageous trustSeize every possible impression,And make it firmly your possession;”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

topic:trust

“On this account, nothing is more dangerous than solitude: there our imagination, always disposed to rise, taking a new flight on the wings of fancy, pictures to us a chain of beings of whom we seem the most inferior. All things appear greater...”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:imagination

“In this world one is seldom reduced to make a selection between two alternatives. There are as many varieties of conduct and opinion as there are turns of feature between an aquiline nose and a flat one.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

topic:choiceopinion