Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotations | Page 4

Beauty is at once the ultimate principle and the highest aim of art.

Continue to make the demands of the day your immediate concern, and take occasion to test the purity of your hearts and the steadfastness of your spirits. When you then take a deep breath and rise above the cares of this world and in an hour of leisure, you will surely win the proper frame of mind to face devoutly what is above us, with reverence, seeing in all events the manifestation of a higher guidance.

We can redeem anyone who strives unceasingly.

With little wit and ease to suit them, They whirl in narrow circling trails, Like kittens playing with their tails.

The mortal race is far too weak not to grow dizzy on unwonted brights.

Water its living strength first shows, When obstacles its course oppose.

A vi'let on the meadow grew, That no one saw, that no one knew, It was a modest flower. A shepherdess pass'd by that way-- Light footed, pretty and so gay; That way she came, Softly warbling forth her lay.

The universal subjugator, the commonplace.

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

What do people mean when they talk about unhappiness? It is not so much unhappiness as impatience that from time to time possesses men, and then they choose to call themselves miserable.