“Nothing is more frightful than to see ignorance in action.”
Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine tätige Unwissenheit.
Maxim 542, trans. Stopp
Variant translation by Saunders: Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action. (231)
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
Maxim 441, trans. Stopp
Variant translation: All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
“The first and last thing demanded of genius is love of truth.”
Maxim 382, trans. Stopp
Variant translation: First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
Wenn mancher sich nicht verpflichtet fühlte, das Unwahre zu wiederholen, weil er’s einmal gefügt hat, fo wären es ganz andere Leute geworden.
Maxim 586, trans. Stopp
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
“The world is a bell that is cracked: it clatters, but does not ring out clearly.”
Die Welt ist eine Glocke, die einen Riß hat: sie klappert, aber klingt nicht.
Maxim 193, trans. Stopp
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
“Art is long, life short; judgment difficult, opportunity transient.”
Die Kunst ist lang, das Leben kurz, das Urteil schwierig, die Gelegenheit flüchtig.
Bk. VII, Ch. 9
Cf. Hippocrates, Ars longa vita brevis, Aphorisms 1:1
Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre (Apprenticeship) (1786–1830)
“In art the best is good enough.”
In der Kunst ist das Beste gut genug.
Italian Journey (March 3, 1787)
“Association with women is the basic element of good manners.”
Der umgang mit frauen ist das element guter sitten.
Maxim 31, trans. Stopp
Variant translation: The society of women is the foundation of good manners.
Variant translative: Intercourse with women is the element of good manners.
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
Propylaea (1798) Introduction
“Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.”
Maxim 739, trans. Stopp
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
“There is strong shadow where there is much light.”
Wo viel Licht ist, ist starker Schatten.
Götz von Berlichingen, Act I (1773)
“Fair I was also, and that was my ruin.”
Schön war ich auch, und das war mein Verderben.
A Prison
Faust, Part 1 (1808)
“No one would talk much in society, if he knew how often he misunderstands others.”
Bk. II, Ch. 4
Elective Affinities (1809)
(1773), translated by Albert Schweizer in Goethe: Five Studies http://archive.is/tOo5z (1961), Beacon Press, p. 53
Letter to Carl Friedrich Zelter (26 November 1825)