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Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Letter to A. F. Oeser (9 November 1768), Early and miscellaneous letters of J. W. Goethe, including letters to his mother. With notes and a short biography (1884)
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.

The deed is everything, the glory nothing.

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Nothing should be treasured more highly than the value of the day.

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One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

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The society of women is the foundation of good manners.

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For the nature of women is closely allied to art.

A noble man is led far by woman's gentle words.

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The deed is everything, the glory naught.

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Variants

"Correction does much, but encouragement does more."

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.

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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.