Quotes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Mastery passes often for egotism.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

On all the peaks lies peace.

A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.

There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.

Every man bears something within him that, if it were publicly announced, would excite feelings of aversion.

One man's word is no man's word; we should quietly hear both sides.

Character - in things great and small - is indicated when a man (or person) pursues with sustained follow-through what he feels himself capable of doing.

Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny

It is natural to man to regard himself as the object of the creation, and to think of all things in relation to himself, and the degree in which they can serve and be useful to him.

A man's errors are what make him amiable.

What a man does not understand, he does not possess.

Perfection is the measure of heaven, and the wish to be perfect the measure of man.

When two men quarrel, who owns the cooler head is the more to blame.

To be active is the primary vocation of man.

Age childish makes, they say, but 'tis not true; We're only genuine children still in Age's season. [Ger., Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht, Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder.]

The world sees only the reflection of merit; therefore when you come to know a really great man intimately, you may as often find him above as below his reputation.

Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.

The day of fortune is like a harvest day, We must be busy when the corn is ripe. [Ger., Ein tag der Gunst ist wie ein Tag der Ernte, Man muss geschaftig sein sobald sie reift.]

Every bird has its decoy, and every man is led and misled in his own peculiar way.

A vain man can never be altogether rude. Desirous as he is of pleasing, he fashions his manners after those of others.

The greater part of all the mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims.

The man who masters himself is delivered from the force that binds all creatures.

Men are joined by conviction, sundered by opinion.