Wer nichts wagt, gerwinnt nichts. Wer nie sein Brod mit Tranen ass, Wer nie die kummervollen Nachte Auf seinem Bette weinend sass, Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Machte.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Who takes no risks gains nothing; those who never suffer or mourn know not the divine.
- In plain terms
- Risk‑taking and suffering are essential to know higher powers.
- What can you take from it?
- Embrace risk and hardship as part of growth.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is suffering necessary for greatness?
- How do you balance risk and safety?
Another view
Equating suffering with divine knowledge may be overly spiritual.
More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt Der in den Zweigen wohnet.
Permalink to quote #33 Knowst thou the land where the lemon trees bloom, Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom, Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, A…
Permalink to quote #35 Mehr licht.
Permalink to quote #32
Related quotes
Within profound Silence, erect, fearless, in pain and in play, ascending ceaselessly from peak to peak, knowing that the height has no ending, sing this proud …
Nikos KazantzakisNikos Kazantzakis quote #99 Why , alas! is life decreed Full of pain and full of sorrow? All uncertain as it is, Can we rest upon to-morrow? Why should blessings yet in store, Hold us sti…
Elizabeth BathElizabeth Bath quote #2 Persian Sufi poetry is animated by a vision of divine beauty-that beauty which is in the words of Keats, 'a joy forever.' This beauty is also, in the theologic…
Hossein Elahi GhomsheiHossein Elahi Ghomshei quote #2