Skip to content

The fine emotions whence our lives we mold
Lie in the earthly tumult dumb and cold.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Die uns das Leben gaben, herrliche Gefühle,
Erstarren in dem irdischen Gewühle.

Original text (German)

Another quote →

Topics

Life

More quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A mathematician is only perfect insofar as he is a perfect man, sensitive to the beauty of truth.

Maxims and Reflections (1833)

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

Elective Affinities (1809)

I had rather be Mercury, the smallest among seven [planets], revolving round the sun, than the first among five [moons] revolving round Saturn.

Of freedom and of life he only is deserving
Who every day must conquer them anew.

Faust, Part 2 (1832)

Properly speaking, such work is never finished; one must declare it so when, according to time and circumstances, one has done one's best.

All Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes →

You may also like

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.