Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on Retirement
1749–1832 Germany
← All quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
10 quotes
Properly speaking, such work is never finished; one must declare it so when, according to time and circumstances, one has done one's best.
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
A man who works at another’s will, not for his own passion or his own need, but for money or honor, is always a fool.
Every situation, every moment — is of infinite worth; for it is the representative of a whole eternity.
Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret (1850)
My inheritance, how wide and fair
Time is my estate; to Time I'm heir.
Long is the calm brain active in creation;
Time only strengthens the fine fermentation.
Age childish makes, they say, but 'tis not true;
We're only genuine children still in Age's season.
What one has wished for in youth, in old age one has in abundance.
Thus at Time's humming loom I ply.
Old age is courteous—no one more:
For time after time he knocks at the door,
But nobody says, "Walk in, sir, pray!"
Yet turns he not from the door away,
But lifts the latch, and enters with speed,
And then they cry, "A cool one, indeed."