Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth."

"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 world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden."

"To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods."

"Ohne Hast, aber ohne Rast. - Without haste, but without rest."

"Personality is everything in art and poetry."

"It is after all the greatest art to limit and isolate oneself."

"The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art."

"Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children."

"The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality."

"Es ist nicht genug, zu wissen, man muß auch anwenden; es ist nicht genug, zu wollen, man muß auch tun."

"Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away."

"All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience."

"Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal."

"By seeking and blundering we learn."

"In art the best is good enough."

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings."

"Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it!"

"Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires: beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go."

"Character develops itself in the stream of life."