Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be.

The day is of infinite length for him who knows how to appreciate and use it.

Words are good, but there is something better. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is the chief matter. Action can only be understood and represented by the spirit.

The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use finds his greatest happiness in using it.

No one should be rich except those who understand it.

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

And what does really matter? That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking---and these are the sum of all wisdom. . . . Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out.

Once one knows what really matters, one ceases to be voluble. And what does really matter? That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking - and these are the sum of all wisdom. . . . Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out. Whoever makes it a rule to test action by thought, thought by action, cannot falter, and if he does, will soon find his way back to the right road.

He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.