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Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
German
poet, novelist, playwright, courtier, and natural philosopher, one
of the greatest
figures in Western literature. In literature
Goethe gained early fame with The Sorrows
of Young Werther
(1774), but his most famous work is the poetic drama in two parts,
FAUST. Like the famous character of this poem, Goethe was
interested in alchemy. He
also made important discoveries in
connection with plant and animal life, and evolved
a non-Newtonian
and unorthodox theory of the character of light and color, which
has influenced such abstract painters as Kandinsky and Mondrian.
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thinkers home
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Mozart
died in his six- and thirtieth year. Raphael at
the same
age. Byron only a little older. But all these
had perfectly
fulfilled their missions;
and it was time
for them to depart, that other
people might still have
something to do in a world made to last a long
while.
Go to the place
where the thing you wish to know is native;
your best teacher is there.
. . . You acquire a language
most readily in the country where it is
spoken,
you study mineralogy best among miners, and so with everything
else.
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Until
one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always
ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation,
there is one elementary
truth the ignorance
of which kills countless
ideas and splendid plans: that the moment
one definitely
commits oneself,
then providence moves too. All sorts of things
occur
to help one that would
never otherwise have occurred. A whole
stream
of events issues from the
decision, raising in one's favor all manner
of unforeseen incidents,
meetings and material assistance which no
person
could have dreamed
would have come his or her way. Whatever you
can do
or dream you can,
begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic
in it. Begin it now.
Even
the lowliest, provided they are whole, can be happy,
and in their own way,
perfect.
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Life
belongs to the living, and those who live must be prepared for changes.
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People
should hear a little music, read a little poetry,
and see a fine picture
every day of their lives,
in order that worldly cares may not obliterate
the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
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Nature is
the living, visible garment of God. |
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Take
care of your body with steadfast fidelity.
The soul must see through these eyes alone, and
if they are dim, the whole world is clouded. |
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For
a contented life:
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 your future. |
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| Nothing
shows our character more than what we laugh at. |
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There
are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of
great things:
strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot
of but a few privileged people;
but austere perseverance, harsh and
continuous, may be employed
by the smallest of us and rarely fails in
its purpose,
for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time. |
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We must
not hope to be mowers,
And to gather the ripe gold 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. |
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They
are happiest, be they king or peasant, who find peace in their home. |
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A
reasonable person needs only to practice moderation to find happiness. |
Kindness
is the golden chain by which society is bound together. |
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Who are the
happiest of people? They who value the merits of others,
and in their
pleasure take joy, even as though t'were their own. |
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the people who early learn the wide chasm that lies between their wishes and
their powers. |
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Rest not.
Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die.
Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.
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As
soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. |
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I
am what I am, so take me as I am! |
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| The people
with insight enough to admit their limitations comes nearest to
perfection. |
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God made people simple, but how they changed
and got complicated is hard to say. |
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| Nothing
is worth more than this day. |
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Many
people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of
it,
and others do just the same with their time. |
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is better to do the most trifling thing in the world than to regard half
an hour as trifle. |
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People
must strive, and in striving, err. |
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In
the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm;
in the real world,
all rests on perseverance. |
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We are never
further from our wishes than when
we imagine that we possess what we
have desired. |
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Whatever
you can do, or dream you can do, begin it;
boldness has genius, power
and magic in it.
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To think
is easy. To act is difficult. To act
as one thinks is the
most difficult of all. |
Knowing is not enough, we must
apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do. |
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Life's
objective is life itself. |
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Treat
people as if they were what they should be,
and you help them become
what they are capable of becoming.
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A
teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action,
for one
single good poem, accomplishes more
than the one who fills our memory with
rows on rows
of natural objects, classified with name and form. |
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We
can't form our children on our own concepts;
we must take them and love
them as God gave them to us. |
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To
know of someone here and there whom
we accord with,
who is living on
with us, even in silence--
this makes our earthly ball a peopled
garden. |
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How people keep
correcting us when we are young! There's always
some bad habit or other they tell us we ought to get over. Yet
most
bad habits are tools to get us through life. |
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