Maxims of Goethe 92

For the man of the world a collection of anecdotes and maxims is of the greatest value, if he knows how to intersperse the one in his conversation at fitting moments, and remember the other when a case arises for their application. 

Maxims of Goethe 91

It is very rare to find pure and steady activity in the accomplishment of what is good and right. We usually see pedantry trying to keep back, and audacity trying to go on too fast. 

IMAGE: Arthur Rackham, The Hare and the Tortoise (1912) 

Maxims of Goethe 90

We are all so limited that we always think we are right; and so we may conceive of an extraordinary mind which not only errs but has a positive delight in error. 

Maxims of Goethe 89

Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never known men of ability to be ungrateful. 

IMAGE: Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful Poor (1894) 

Maxims of Goethe 88

I can promise to be sincere, but not to be impartial. 

Maxims of Goethe 87

If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well. 

Maxims of Goethe 86

Whether memoirs are written by masters of servants, or by servants of masters, the processes always meet. 

IMAGE: Nicolaes Maes, The Idle Servant (1655) 

Maxims of Goethe 85

If a man spreads my failings abroad, he is my master, even though he were my servant. 

Maxims of Goethe 84

The masses cannot dispense with men of ability, and such men are always a burden to them. 

IMAGE: Philipp Foltz, The Funeral Oration of Pericles (1852) 

Maxims of Goethe 83

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him. 

Maxims of Goethe 82

An honorable man with limited ideas often sees through the rascality of the most cunning jobber. 

Maxims of Goethe 81

No one should desire to live in irregular circumstances; but if by chance a man falls into them, they test his character and show of how much determination he is capable. 

IMAGE: George Marston, The Endurance Crushed in the Ice of the Weddell Sea, October 1915 (c. 1920) 

Maxims of Goethe 80

Life seems so vulgar, so easily content with the commonplace things of every day, and yet it always nurses and cherishes certain higher claims in secret, and looks about for the means of satisfying them. 

IMAGE: Jacopo Bassano, The Good Samaritan (c. 1563) 

Maxims of Goethe 79

The world of empirical morality consists for the most part of nothing but ill-will and envy. 

IMAGE: William Blake, The Temptation and Fall of Eve (1808) 

Maxims of Goethe 78

We are no sooner about to learn some great lesson than we take refuge in our own innate poverty of soul, and yet for all that the lesson has not been quite in vain. 

IMAGE: August Heyn, Bored with Lessons (c. 1880) 

Maxims of Goethe 77

We all live on the past, and through the past are destroyed. 

IMAGE: Hubert Robert, Roman Ruins (c. 1760) 

Maxims of Goethe 76

It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; for error lies on the surface and may be overcome; but truth lies in the depths, and to search for it is not given to everyone. 

IMAGE: Frances MacDonald, Truth Lies at the Bottom of the Well (c. 1915) 

Maxims of Goethe 75

Scholars are generally malignant when they are refuting others; and if they think a man is making a mistake, they straightway look upon him as their mortal enemy. 

IMAGE: Guido Reni, Cupids Fighting Putti (c. 1625) 

Maxims of Goethe 74

The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that they forfeit their originality in recognizing a truth which has already been recognized by others. 

IMAGE: Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel (c. 1480) 

Maxims of Goethe 73

Dilettantism treated seriously, and knowledge pursued mechanically, end by becoming pedantry. 

IMAGE: Thomas Rowlandson, The Pedant (c. 1800)