Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Elves Quotations

Only people unable to produce anything themselves feel there is nothing there.

Whether a person shows themselves to be a genius in science or in writing a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, or the deed, is living and can live on.

We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverable for ourselves and for others.

People may live as much retired from the world as they like, but sooner or later they find themselves debtor or creditor to some one.

The philosopher must station themselves in the middle.

Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves than with others

Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves