When a nation which has long groaned under the intolerable yoke of a tyrant rises at last and throws off its chains, do you call that weakness? The man who, to rescue his house from the flames, finds his physical strength redoubled, so that he lifts burdens with ease which in the absence of excitement he could scarcely move; he who under the rage of an insult attacks and puts to flight half a score of his enemies, —are such persons to be called weak? My good friend, if resistance be strength, how can the highest degree of resistance be a weakness?

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When he comes to the door he always looks mocking and half-way angry. You can see he has sympathy for nothing. It's written on his forehead that he can love no one.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When I go out by the gateway, taking the road I drove along that first time I picked up Lott for the ball, how very different it all is! It is all over, all of it! There is not a hint of the world that once was, not one pulse-beat of those past emotions. I feel like a ghost returning to the burnt-out ruins of the castle he built in his prime as a prince, which he adorned with magnificent splendors and then, on his deathbed, but full of hope, left to his beloved son

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When I say to the Moment flying;'Linger awhile -- thou art so fair!' Then bind me in thy bonds undying, And my final ruin I will bear!

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Whilst I could not think of any man whose spirit was, or needed to be, more enlarged than the spirit of a genuine merchant. What a thing it is to see the order which prevails throughout his business! By means of this he can at any time survey the general whole, without needing to perplex himself in the details. What advantages does he derive from the system of bookkeeping by double entry? It is among the finest inventions of the human mind; every prudent master of a house should introduce it into his economy.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Who are you then?" "I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wild dreams torment me as I lie. And though a god lives in my heart, though all my power waken at his word, though he can move my every inmost part - yet nothing in the outer world is stirred. Thus by existence tortured and oppressed I crave death, I long for rest.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wisdom is found only in truth.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe