Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Wise Quotations

Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.

Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.

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

It is in the half fools and the half wise that the greatest danger lies.

Beware of a man of one book.

People always fancy that we must become old to become wise; but, in truth, as years advance, it is hard to keep ourselves as wise as we were.

Fools and wise men are equally harmless. It is the half-fools and half-wise that are dangerous.

He who is wise puts aside all claims which may dissipate his attention, and confining himself to one branch excels in that.

Divide and command, a wise maxim; Unite and guide, a better.

There is nothing by which men display their character so much as in what they consider ridiculous... Fools and sensible men are equally innocuous. It is in the half fools and the half wise that the great danger lies.

No wise combatant underestimates their antagonist.

If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.

The follies of the wise man are known to himself, but hidden from the world.

What am I then...? Everything that I have seen, heard, and observed I have collected and exploited. My works have been nourished by countless different individuals, by innocent and wise ones, people of intelligence and dunces. Childhood, maturity and old age all have brought me their thoughts....their perspectives on life. I have often reaped what others have sowed. My work is the work of a collective being that bears the name Goethe.

It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.

Who can think wise or stupid things at all that were not thought already in the past. [Ger., Wer kann was Dummes, wer was Kluges denken, Das nicht die Vorwelt schon gedacht.]

Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her.

It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before us

If you wish a wise answer, you must put a rational question.

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.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.