More from and about
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(biographical info at bottom of page)

  

If you treat individuals as they are, they will remain how
they are. But if you treat them as if they were what they
ought to be and could be, they will become
what they ought to be and could be.

   

We must not hope to be mowers,
And to gather the ripe old ears,
Unless we have first been sowers
And watered the furrows with tears.
It is not just as we take it,
This mystical world of ours,
Life's field will yield as we make it
A harvest of thorns or of flowers.

      
Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
  
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.  If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
   

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

     

You can easily judge the character of a man by
how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

   

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The person born with a talent they are meant to
use will find their greatest happiness in using it.

   

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

   

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the
greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what
little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they
seek out any and every means to be rid of it.

   

    
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749 in Frankfurt. From 1765 to 1771 he studied law in Leipzig and Strasbourg on request of his father.  During his time at university he already earned recognition with his poems and lyric.  When he returned to Frankfurt he practiced law and worked on his career as a poet and writer.  In 1773 the Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisenen Hand was published, making Goethe a main representative for the Sturm und Drang movement.  Getting a lot of attention and recognition by the literature world, Goethe is invited to Weimar, where he took over many different political offices, but still managed to concentrate on writing.

Beside his literature ambitions, he was also very interested in science, which was more important to him, than his writing.  From 1786 to 1790 he traveled through Italy where he undertook more scientific researches.  In 1794 he befriended Friedrich Schiller with whom he developed a new style of writing, which is now known as its own literature epoch, the Weimarer Klassik.

In 1908 Goethe finished Faust, between 1811-14 he wrote his autobiography and in 1831 he finished Faust 2, which was published posthumously.  Goethe used and explored many different styles in literature and turned out to be an important personality to the world of literature.

  

    

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Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.

           

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Alan Watts
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