Quote #112

He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build.

More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  1. He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
  2. How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to.
  3. Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.
  4. If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first p…
  5. Everything in the world may be endured except continued prosperity.
  6. If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you be…
  7. Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
  8. If Switzerland were flat as a pancake, it would be larger than Prussia.

All Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes