No one is more of a slave than he who .. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Previous Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

No one is more of a slave than he who thinks himself free without being so.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Profession: Poet
Nationality: German

Some suggestions for you :

From desire I rush to satisfaction; from satisfaction I leap to desire.

Life seems so vulgar, so easily content with the commonplace things of every day, and yet it always nurses and cherishes certain higher claims in secret, and looks about for the means of satisfying them.

I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon it.

What counts is that one perceives excellence and dares to give it expression, which sounds little but is in fact a great deal.

Please send me your last pair of shoes, worn out with dancing as you mentioned in your letter, so that I might have something to press against my heart.

Love is an ideal thing marriage a real thing a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.

Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and -- if at all possible -- speak a few sensible words.

There you have it! - How they anticipate my wishes, how they grant friendship's little attentions, which are worth a thousand times more than breathtaking presents that merely prove the giver's vanity and humiliate us.

I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.

To speak the truth, as truth to me appeared, Caused noisy protests, I was hooted down. Such unpleasant incidents occurred That I ran off so as to be alone, Into the wilds. Utterly forsaken, I took at last the Devil for companion.

A man should hear a little music […] in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

The wild desires no longer win us, The deeds of passion cease to chain; The love of Man revives within us, The love of God revives again.

Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.

Show all