One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

About Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) 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, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late...

More quotations from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nothing is worse than active ignorance.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

More quotations tagged with “poetry”

The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.

—Jean Cocteau

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon; but all are overwhelmed in eternal night, unwept, unknown, because they lack a sacred poet.

A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child.

—H. L. Mencken

All slang is a metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry.

—G. K. Chesterton

Poetry is the deification of reality.

—Edith Sitwell

History

11 Jul 2015 Added