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Maxims and Reflections
Goethe was probably the last true ‘Renaissance Man�. Although employed as a Privy Councillor at the Duke of Weimar’s court, where he helped oversee major mining, road-building and irrigation projects, he also painted, directed plays, carried out research in anatomy, botany and optics � and still found time to produce masterpieces in every literary genre. His 1,413 maxims and reflections reveal not only some of his deepest thought on art, ethics, literature and natural science, but also his immediate reactions to books, chance encounters or his administrative work. With a freshness and immediacy which vividly conjure up Goethe the man, they make an ideal introduction to one of the greatest of European writers.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1833
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About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
12.4kbooks6,611followersA master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem
Faust
, published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
August 14, 2016
Thoughts and quips from Germany's most prolific polymath - 590 in all - plus a bonus section of wonderful reflections on Mother Nature. Also features critiques on writers from Kalidas to Shakespeare.
Very difficult to cull these faves :
-------------------
9. Unqualified activity, of whatever kind, leads at last to bankruptcy.
12. Our plans and designs should be so perfect in truth and beauty, that in touching them the world could only mar. We should thus have the advantage of setting right what is wrong, and restoring what is destroyed.
17. In botany, one species of plants is termed "incompletæ." In the same way some men are incomplete and imperfect. Their desires and struggles are disproportional to their actions and achievements.
25. From all sides he is threatened by the spirit of the day, and nothing is more necessary than to make him see early enough the direction in which his will has to steer.
30. If I am to listen to another man's opinion, it must be expressed positively. Of things problematical I have enough in myself.
33. Everything that frees our spirit without giving us control of ourselves is ruinous.
65. Generosity wins favor from everyone, especially when accompanied by modesty.
81. What a man does not understand, he does not possess.
108. It is as certain as it is strange that truth and error come from one and the same source. Thus we're not free to do violence to error, because at the same time we violate truth.
147. The masses cannot dispense with men of ability, and such men are always a burden to them.
152. Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never known men of ability to be ungrateful.
209. Despotism promotes general self-government, because from top to bottom it makes the individual responsible, and so produces the highest degree of activity.
211. Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away by it.
222. There is no use in reproving vulgarity, for it never changes.
239. To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years.
249. In the world people take a man at his own estimate, but he must estimate himself at something. Disagreeableness is more easily tolerated than insignificance.
264. A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait.
276. Fools and wise folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.
278. Difficulties increase the nearer we come to our aim.
291. By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they laugh at.
300. Passions are good or bad qualities, only intensified.
309. The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and draws near the master.
319. Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.
323. To praise a man is to put oneself on his level.
330. The greatest difficulties lie where we do not look for them.
332. Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day.
335. If a man lives long in a high position, it's true he does not experience all that a man can experience... but he experiences things like them, and perhaps some things that have no parallel elsewhere.
358. "I stumbled over the roots of the tree which I planted."... said a very, very old forester.
375. It does not look well for monarchs to speak through the press, for power should act and not talk.
389. The public must be treated like women: they must be told absolutely nothing except what they like to hear.
414. A man who has no acquaintance with foreign languages knows nothing of his own.
415. We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive, are anxious to say something important, and the results are most curious.
417. Some books seem to have been written not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.
461. If one has not read newspapers for some months, but then suddenly reads them all, one sees - as one never saw before - how much time is wasted with this literature type.
467. What a day it is when we must envy the men in their graves!
481. The Beautiful is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which, without its presence, would never have been revealed.
489. Nothing is more frightful than imagination without taste.
532. Ignorant people raise questions which were answered by the wise thousands of years ago.
566. There is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few powerful leading men, accommodating rascals, submissive weaklings, and the masses who trot after them without knowing their own mind in the least.
571. If a man devotes himself to the promotion of science, he is first opposed, and then informed that his ground is already occupied. Men first value nothing we tell them, and then they behave as if they knew it all themselves.
.
Very difficult to cull these faves :
-------------------
9. Unqualified activity, of whatever kind, leads at last to bankruptcy.
12. Our plans and designs should be so perfect in truth and beauty, that in touching them the world could only mar. We should thus have the advantage of setting right what is wrong, and restoring what is destroyed.
17. In botany, one species of plants is termed "incompletæ." In the same way some men are incomplete and imperfect. Their desires and struggles are disproportional to their actions and achievements.
25. From all sides he is threatened by the spirit of the day, and nothing is more necessary than to make him see early enough the direction in which his will has to steer.
30. If I am to listen to another man's opinion, it must be expressed positively. Of things problematical I have enough in myself.
33. Everything that frees our spirit without giving us control of ourselves is ruinous.
65. Generosity wins favor from everyone, especially when accompanied by modesty.
81. What a man does not understand, he does not possess.
108. It is as certain as it is strange that truth and error come from one and the same source. Thus we're not free to do violence to error, because at the same time we violate truth.
147. The masses cannot dispense with men of ability, and such men are always a burden to them.
152. Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never known men of ability to be ungrateful.
209. Despotism promotes general self-government, because from top to bottom it makes the individual responsible, and so produces the highest degree of activity.
211. Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away by it.
222. There is no use in reproving vulgarity, for it never changes.
239. To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years.
249. In the world people take a man at his own estimate, but he must estimate himself at something. Disagreeableness is more easily tolerated than insignificance.
264. A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait.
276. Fools and wise folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.
278. Difficulties increase the nearer we come to our aim.
291. By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they laugh at.
300. Passions are good or bad qualities, only intensified.
309. The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and draws near the master.
319. Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.
323. To praise a man is to put oneself on his level.
330. The greatest difficulties lie where we do not look for them.
332. Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day.
335. If a man lives long in a high position, it's true he does not experience all that a man can experience... but he experiences things like them, and perhaps some things that have no parallel elsewhere.
358. "I stumbled over the roots of the tree which I planted."... said a very, very old forester.
375. It does not look well for monarchs to speak through the press, for power should act and not talk.
389. The public must be treated like women: they must be told absolutely nothing except what they like to hear.
414. A man who has no acquaintance with foreign languages knows nothing of his own.
415. We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive, are anxious to say something important, and the results are most curious.
417. Some books seem to have been written not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.
461. If one has not read newspapers for some months, but then suddenly reads them all, one sees - as one never saw before - how much time is wasted with this literature type.
467. What a day it is when we must envy the men in their graves!
481. The Beautiful is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which, without its presence, would never have been revealed.
489. Nothing is more frightful than imagination without taste.
532. Ignorant people raise questions which were answered by the wise thousands of years ago.
566. There is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few powerful leading men, accommodating rascals, submissive weaklings, and the masses who trot after them without knowing their own mind in the least.
571. If a man devotes himself to the promotion of science, he is first opposed, and then informed that his ground is already occupied. Men first value nothing we tell them, and then they behave as if they knew it all themselves.
.
November 23, 2019
To communicate is natural; to accept what is communicated is an acquired art.
-
What kind of shortcomings are we allowed to keep, indeed cultivate in ourselves? The kind that flatter, rather than hurt, other people.
-
Passions are faults or virtues, only heightened ones.
-
There is no way of more surely avoiding the world than by art, and it is by art that you form the surest link with it.
-
It is easier to imagine the mental state of a man who labours under total error than the state of mind of someone deluding himself with half-truths.
-
Anyone who doesn’t know foreign languages knows nothing of his own.
-
What you don’t understand, you don’t possess.
-
A person who doesn’t rate himself too highly is worth much more than he imagines.
-
No wonder that we more or less prefer to be surrounded by mediocrity because it leaves us in peace; it gives us the cosy feeling of consorting with the likes of our own selves.
-
There is nothing more dreadful than active ignorance.
-
You have to distance yourself from beauty and intelligence if you don’t want to become their vassal.
-
What friends do for us and with us is also a part of our living experience because it strengthens and furthers our personality. What enemies undertake against us is not part of our own living experience; it merely comes to our knowledge; we repudiate it and protect ourselves against it as we would against frost, storm, rain and hail, or other outer evils which are to be expected.
-
In the works of man as in those of nature, what most deserves notice is his intention.
-
When you praise someone, you are putting yourself on a par with him.
-
You only know those who cause you suffering.
-
You only keep a watch on those who cause you suffering. If you want to remain unknown to the world, all that’s needed is not to hurt anyone.
-
What kind of shortcomings are we allowed to keep, indeed cultivate in ourselves? The kind that flatter, rather than hurt, other people.
-
Passions are faults or virtues, only heightened ones.
-
There is no way of more surely avoiding the world than by art, and it is by art that you form the surest link with it.
-
It is easier to imagine the mental state of a man who labours under total error than the state of mind of someone deluding himself with half-truths.
-
Anyone who doesn’t know foreign languages knows nothing of his own.
-
What you don’t understand, you don’t possess.
-
A person who doesn’t rate himself too highly is worth much more than he imagines.
-
No wonder that we more or less prefer to be surrounded by mediocrity because it leaves us in peace; it gives us the cosy feeling of consorting with the likes of our own selves.
-
There is nothing more dreadful than active ignorance.
-
You have to distance yourself from beauty and intelligence if you don’t want to become their vassal.
-
What friends do for us and with us is also a part of our living experience because it strengthens and furthers our personality. What enemies undertake against us is not part of our own living experience; it merely comes to our knowledge; we repudiate it and protect ourselves against it as we would against frost, storm, rain and hail, or other outer evils which are to be expected.
-
In the works of man as in those of nature, what most deserves notice is his intention.
-
When you praise someone, you are putting yourself on a par with him.
-
You only know those who cause you suffering.
-
You only keep a watch on those who cause you suffering. If you want to remain unknown to the world, all that’s needed is not to hurt anyone.
February 23, 2023
9/10.
February 5, 2021
Geteova razmišljanja o kulturi, umjetnosti, nauci i prirodi.
"There is no greater consolation for mediocrity than that the genius is not immortal. "
"There is no greater consolation for mediocrity than that the genius is not immortal. "
December 31, 2019
This dude was wise af
January 3, 2025
I enjoyed the intro essays—especially regarding the composition of and distinction between maxim/aphorism/apophthegm/adage/proverb. Here, I just thought I liked a clever and wise saying!
I appreciated how this book was organized into subjects, and found myself spending the most time considering what was said about “science.�
I’ve just included a new participant in Anjie’s Ideal Dinner Party Guest List: Goethe!
It made me happy that he could be all flowery and super eloquent in one breath, and then smack me with a more humorous truth, GrouchoMarx-Style. Bam. 💥
Will return to this book again, fo� sho�.
I appreciated how this book was organized into subjects, and found myself spending the most time considering what was said about “science.�
I’ve just included a new participant in Anjie’s Ideal Dinner Party Guest List: Goethe!
It made me happy that he could be all flowery and super eloquent in one breath, and then smack me with a more humorous truth, GrouchoMarx-Style. Bam. 💥
Will return to this book again, fo� sho�.
April 26, 2025
Full of beautiful observations/insights on nature, life, and writing. There are some religious and political bits that didn't appeal to me. But there was so much that did resonate with me and inspire me.
March 7, 2011
Goethe is a combination Emerson, Whitman, James, Franklin, and whoever might be America’s best playwright. He is the kind of artist for whom the adjective Renaissance was invented: poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, philosopher, and engineer. He probably did windows and could parallel park a coach pulled by six horses as well. This slender volume is filled with aphorisms, observations, maxims, and various other nuggets of wisdom. Witness some randomly pulled examples: “Error is continually repeated in action and that is why we must not tire of repeating in words what is true.� “The senses don’t deceive, judgment deceives.� “Behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows his image.� “When a rainbow has lasted as long as a quarter of an hour we stop looking at it.� “You ask which form of government is the best? Whichever teaches us to govern ourselves.� “Somebody said: ‘Why do you bother about Homer? Especially since you don’t understand him?� I don’t understand the sun, the moon, the stars high above my head, and I recognize myself in them even as I look at them and contemplate their wonderful regular course, wondering as I gaze whether I too might one day come to some good.�
The reflections run a gamut of topics and themes, from art to science, literature to politics, culture to religion. Goethe had a richly philosophical mind and the various thoughts here cover both the range and depth of his thinking and make provocative reading.
The reflections run a gamut of topics and themes, from art to science, literature to politics, culture to religion. Goethe had a richly philosophical mind and the various thoughts here cover both the range and depth of his thinking and make provocative reading.
May 3, 2025
Meditations make way, there is a new queen in town called Maximen und Reflexionen!
(They cannot be compared)
(They cannot be compared)
February 27, 2018
"In some quiet hour when they were sociably together, Faith, Love and Hope felt an urge to fashion something new; they set to work together and created a lovable new quality, a higher kind of Pandora: Patience."
This book was quite ineffective. I don't know what I really expected when I got it from the bookstore and saw it's cheaper compared to other books. Subconsciously, I was probably hoping for another perspective a la Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. To be fair, Goethe's 1,413 Maxims and Reflections criticizes and reflects on a wide spectrum of things from literature, art, relationships, and life but it was lacking due to how some seemed to be incomplete in thought and meaning. They were derived from Goethe's voluminous works and he could be criticizing an author from his era then praising an artist in another which some rang a bell but with others, I have limited knowledge with. Nevertheless, the division is well-structured and organized although I noticed some maxims/reflections were repeated in some form or another. Still, Goethe's wit is infectious and wonderful. It is comparable with someone's attempt of creating a symmetrical face by cutting off facial parts from magazines. Quite symmetrical but odd-looking. I did feel that reading Penguin's Little Black Classics, Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings would suffice.
I loved the sections POSTHUMOUS: On Literature and Life, POSTHUMOUS: On Nature and Natural Science, FROM ART AND ANTIQUITY: Vol. I, issue 3: Naïvety and Humour, and FROM ART AND ANTIQUITY: Vol. V, issue 3: Individual Points.
Some things to reflect on:
** "Our passions are a genuine phoenix. As the old one burns down, the new one immediately arises out of the ashes."
** "We don't get to know people when they come to us. We have to go to them to discover how things stand."
** "We are never further away from our desires than when we imagine we possess what we desire."
** "No one is more of a slave than the one who thinks he is free without freedom."
** "It's really a person's mistakes that make him endearing."
** "You ask which form of government is the best? Whichever teaches us to govern ourselves."
** "The most attractive form of metempsychosis is when we see ourselves appear in someone else."
** "A great failing: to see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth."
** "You can't get rid of what really belongs to you, even if you throw it away."
** "When you praise someone, you are putting yourself on a par with him."
** "It doesn't do to dally too long in the realm of the abstract � what is esoteric is damaging when it strives to be exoteric. Life is best taught by what is alive."
** "We look back on our life as a thing of broken pieces, because our mistakes and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have accomplished and attained."
This book was quite ineffective. I don't know what I really expected when I got it from the bookstore and saw it's cheaper compared to other books. Subconsciously, I was probably hoping for another perspective a la Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. To be fair, Goethe's 1,413 Maxims and Reflections criticizes and reflects on a wide spectrum of things from literature, art, relationships, and life but it was lacking due to how some seemed to be incomplete in thought and meaning. They were derived from Goethe's voluminous works and he could be criticizing an author from his era then praising an artist in another which some rang a bell but with others, I have limited knowledge with. Nevertheless, the division is well-structured and organized although I noticed some maxims/reflections were repeated in some form or another. Still, Goethe's wit is infectious and wonderful. It is comparable with someone's attempt of creating a symmetrical face by cutting off facial parts from magazines. Quite symmetrical but odd-looking. I did feel that reading Penguin's Little Black Classics, Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings would suffice.
I loved the sections POSTHUMOUS: On Literature and Life, POSTHUMOUS: On Nature and Natural Science, FROM ART AND ANTIQUITY: Vol. I, issue 3: Naïvety and Humour, and FROM ART AND ANTIQUITY: Vol. V, issue 3: Individual Points.
Some things to reflect on:
** "Our passions are a genuine phoenix. As the old one burns down, the new one immediately arises out of the ashes."
** "We don't get to know people when they come to us. We have to go to them to discover how things stand."
** "We are never further away from our desires than when we imagine we possess what we desire."
** "No one is more of a slave than the one who thinks he is free without freedom."
** "It's really a person's mistakes that make him endearing."
** "You ask which form of government is the best? Whichever teaches us to govern ourselves."
** "The most attractive form of metempsychosis is when we see ourselves appear in someone else."
** "A great failing: to see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth."
** "You can't get rid of what really belongs to you, even if you throw it away."
** "When you praise someone, you are putting yourself on a par with him."
** "It doesn't do to dally too long in the realm of the abstract � what is esoteric is damaging when it strives to be exoteric. Life is best taught by what is alive."
** "We look back on our life as a thing of broken pieces, because our mistakes and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have accomplished and attained."
June 1, 2019
Truly wondrous bits and pieces from a great mind. This bulk of work was my companion during the past few months. Anyways, without further ado, I will just list the reflections I loved the most.
"It is sad to watch an outstandingly talented man battling frantically with himself, his circumstances, his time, without ever managing to get anywhere."
"People are at a loss with regard to themselves and one another because they use means as ends, and then, because of sheer busyness, nothing whatever happens or perhaps, even worse, something which is disagreeable."
"Botanists have a plant-category which they call ‘Incompletae�; similarly one can say that there are incomplete and uncompleted people. These are the ones whose longings and strivings are out of proportion with what they actually do and what they achieve."
"Human nature needs to be numbed from time to time, but without being put to sleep; hence smoking, spirits, opiates."
"Our passions are a genuine phoenix. As the old one burns down, the new one immediately arises out of the ashes."
"There is no way of more surely avoiding the world than by art, and it is by art that you form the surest link with it."
"Books, too, have their life-experience which cannot be taken away from them."
"The most attractive form of metempsychosis is when we see ourselves reappear in someone else."
"All we devise and do is exhausting; happy the man who doesn’t get weary."
"Art is the conveyor of the inexpressible; it therefore looks like folly again to attempt conveying it by words. But our effort to do this enriches our understanding in many ways, and this, in turn, is good for our potential."
"Outstanding people are therefore in a worse case than others; as we don’t compare ourselves with them, we try to catch them out."
"The novel is a subjective epic in which the author begs permission to describe the world in his own way. So the only question is: does he have a way? � the rest will come in due course."
“We look back on our life as a thing of broken pieces, because our mistakes and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have accomplished and attained.�
“Reading ought to mean understanding; writing ought to mean knowing something; believing ought to mean comprehending; when you desire a thing, you will have to take it; when you demand it, you will not get it; and when you are experienced, you ought to be useful to others.�
"It is sad to watch an outstandingly talented man battling frantically with himself, his circumstances, his time, without ever managing to get anywhere."
"People are at a loss with regard to themselves and one another because they use means as ends, and then, because of sheer busyness, nothing whatever happens or perhaps, even worse, something which is disagreeable."
"Botanists have a plant-category which they call ‘Incompletae�; similarly one can say that there are incomplete and uncompleted people. These are the ones whose longings and strivings are out of proportion with what they actually do and what they achieve."
"Human nature needs to be numbed from time to time, but without being put to sleep; hence smoking, spirits, opiates."
"Our passions are a genuine phoenix. As the old one burns down, the new one immediately arises out of the ashes."
"There is no way of more surely avoiding the world than by art, and it is by art that you form the surest link with it."
"Books, too, have their life-experience which cannot be taken away from them."
"The most attractive form of metempsychosis is when we see ourselves reappear in someone else."
"All we devise and do is exhausting; happy the man who doesn’t get weary."
"Art is the conveyor of the inexpressible; it therefore looks like folly again to attempt conveying it by words. But our effort to do this enriches our understanding in many ways, and this, in turn, is good for our potential."
"Outstanding people are therefore in a worse case than others; as we don’t compare ourselves with them, we try to catch them out."
"The novel is a subjective epic in which the author begs permission to describe the world in his own way. So the only question is: does he have a way? � the rest will come in due course."
“We look back on our life as a thing of broken pieces, because our mistakes and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have accomplished and attained.�
“Reading ought to mean understanding; writing ought to mean knowing something; believing ought to mean comprehending; when you desire a thing, you will have to take it; when you demand it, you will not get it; and when you are experienced, you ought to be useful to others.�
March 31, 2022
Goethe's shower-thoughts. Maybe best enjoyed by reading 1-10 maxims each day ("a motivational quote to start the day"), because the whole thing in itself is all over the place and most of the maxims etc. do not relate to one another at all. The ones concerning the author's thoughts on the scientific method (as well as his opinions on the methods of his scientist contemporaries) are interesting to read even from the viewpoint of the modern reader. Accompanying this, a lot of talk about art and the culture around it in Germany and France during Goethe's time, which for the most part went over my head due to a total lack of context.
All in all, I'm not too impressed, but I'm also an uncultured swine: I've not read anything else by Goethe and I'm all around ignorant on what was going on in the world in the early 1800's.
All in all, I'm not too impressed, but I'm also an uncultured swine: I've not read anything else by Goethe and I'm all around ignorant on what was going on in the world in the early 1800's.
November 21, 2019
A great book of 1413 maxims from various Goethe works and sketchings
Some samplers:
“Wisdom is to be found only in truth�
“The smallest hair casts its shadow�
“Hindus in the desert vow never to eat fish�
“We all live on the past and perish by the past�
“We very seldom satisfy ourselves; all the more consoling, therefore, to have satisfied others�
“What is esoteric is damaging when it tries to be exoteric�
“A thinking man’s greatest happiness is to have fathomed what can be fathomed and to revere in silence what cannot be fathomed�
Includes many which are fleshed out to encompass paragraphs of thought: art, science, philosophy, love. Goethe’s renaissance man spirit is on show.
Some samplers:
“Wisdom is to be found only in truth�
“The smallest hair casts its shadow�
“Hindus in the desert vow never to eat fish�
“We all live on the past and perish by the past�
“We very seldom satisfy ourselves; all the more consoling, therefore, to have satisfied others�
“What is esoteric is damaging when it tries to be exoteric�
“A thinking man’s greatest happiness is to have fathomed what can be fathomed and to revere in silence what cannot be fathomed�
Includes many which are fleshed out to encompass paragraphs of thought: art, science, philosophy, love. Goethe’s renaissance man spirit is on show.
April 13, 2021
One of the last polymaths and the greatest literary figures of Germany, and yet his maxims are rarely mentioned. Honestly its not hard to see why, firstly they just aren't on par with his more famous works. Secondly and most importantly, in this area of literature Nietzsche sets a high a bar in quality and quantity that Goethe just cant compete with. So unless you are particularly interested in Goethe as a person you can safely give this a miss.
That said there was something strangely fun about reading his jabs at geology and mountain climbing.
That said there was something strangely fun about reading his jabs at geology and mountain climbing.
January 23, 2024
This book convinced me finally that the modern media seek to dissuade from and to perplex those who seek knowledge of life and, in short, to envenom the quest for enlightenment by constructing a haze of abstractions about the nature of the subject. Bravo to Goethe, for giving a voice on the delight one experiences when witnessing the emergence of the divine Being of the natural world which, he maintains, is the site of the only joy man can attain in this earthly life. Three stars.
November 19, 2022
Quite truthfully, the quickest way to gather wisdom is by reading collections of aphorisms, maxims and reflections written by those of Goethe’s likes.
This works only if you have developed wisdom before endeavouring to gather it, however.
This works only if you have developed wisdom before endeavouring to gather it, however.
November 28, 2021
ŷ ought to switch its rating system from stars to Goethes.
March 11, 2024
maxims and reflections will always be a mix of hits & misses for each individual, but goethe certainly has more hits than misses. will be stealing from him to sound smart at dinners
January 13, 2025
If you are reading this review you will know who Goethe is and therefore that whilst anything of his is intrinsically worth reading, the maxims and reflections which that great personage noted down to guide his own conduct will be of particular interest in anyone of the same human type. Given that these are personal reflections, the language and form are not always harmonious and beautiful, some are very idiosyncratic (the collection ends with a rhapsody on ‘Nature� as an almost-embodied Goddess) but there is tremendous value in here. What follows are some of my favourites, grouped together in general categories:
Self knowledge
Goethe offers some incisive and damning - for one to whom these things may seem a struggle - judgement on focus and memory: "When you lose interest in anything, you also lose the memory for it.". Later he further observes "It is only because we have not understood a thing that we cannot repeat it without alteration," or, put in another way, "Every man hears only what he understands." A great polymath like Goethe did not have to force himself to remember anything, it came naturally out of love. If you struggle with memory and passion, perhaps you are forcing your interest in an unnatural direction. After all, “a man is not deceived by others, he deceives himself."
Self reflection in this regard is also made difficult by language. “Let every man examine himself, and he will find this a much harder task than he might suppose; for, unhappily, a man usually takes words as mere make-shifts; his knowledge and his thought are in most cases better than his method of expression. False, irrelevant, and futile ideas may arise in ourselves and others [...] let us persist in the effort to remove them as far as we can, by plain and honest purpose." Our thoughts are constructed by means of our too too solid language, and it is challenging to effectively perform self-reflection and analysis to the required level of precision. So how do we know what is right for US?
"How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth. [...] But what is your duty? The claims of the day." Goethe became the man he was through action and exploration. "It is not enough to know, we must also apply; it is not enough to will, we must also do." But the germ of a thought or intention, if firmly held, cultivated and defended from the rain and frost of countervailing impulses and idleness, will always give rise to the growth of action: "strictly speaking, everything depends upon a man's intentions; where these exist, thoughts appear; and as the intentions are, so are the thoughts."
Good conduct
This love of, and focus on, action runs throughout these reflections and maxims. Goethe is a well-wishing and personable man, and this humanity springs joyfully from the page. To act well is also to act courteously and politely: "A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait." Furthermore, "Ingratitude is always a king of weakness. I have never known men of ability to be ungrateful." To act as is proper, internally and externally, is for him the essence of greatness. To do so across time is to girder one’s life against mischance and obtain self-knowledge as above. "Memories may vanish so long as the moment of judgement does not fail you"
Action towards ideal
One of the first maxims presented in this collection is: "Against criticism a man can neither protect nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him." This is a quote which has obtained some reach on its own merits, not least because it is true. Having obtained self-knowledge through action and refined conduct, Great Men (though Goethe would not define himself as one he is deservingly a Great Man of the Arts) are distinguished by their action towards an ideal. At first, aspirations of greatness are perceived as terrifying boundaries to achievement: "A great work limits us for the moment, because we feel it above our powers; and only in so far as we afterwards incorporate it with our culture, and make it part of our mind and body, does it become a dear and worthy object."
Indeed,"It is no wonder that we all more or less delight in the mediocre, because it leaves us in peace: it gives us the comfortable feeling of intercourse with what is like ourselves." Furthermore "It is with history as with nature and with everything of any depth, it may be past, present, or future: the further we seriously pursue it, the more difficult are the problems that appear. The man who is not afraid of them, but attacks them bravely, as a feeling of higher culture and greater ease the further he progresses." For this reason, "every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be steep and inaccessible."
"To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years." All Great Men of history have had impossible dreams, acted towards them relentlessly without surrender and, regardless of the end result, achieve greatness. As such, "Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than lower ones quite obtained."
Society and nature
Particularly in the sections on art and science, two recurrent areas of focus emerge. Whilst Goethe is a lover of people and society, for him (and here he speaks from the specific perspective of science) "there is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few powerful men to lead the way; of accommodating rascals and submissive weaklings; and of a mass of men who trot after them, without in the least knowing their own mind".
Whilst society is a source of personal joy, in the arts and sciences it is the agent of dogma, and in contrast "every man should remain in the path he has struck out for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion". The same holds for people: "We do not learn to know men if they come to us; we must do to them to find out what they are."
Rather, Goethe sees Nature as the ultimate source of truth in action, the arts and the sciences, noting that "The beautiful is a manifestation of secret laws of nature, which, without its presence, would never have been revealed."
***
All in all, we are treated to the luscious vistas of one of the most fertile minds in history. To end, I offer this uplifting reminder: "we look back upon our life only as on a thing of broken pieces, because our misses and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have done, and attained".
Self knowledge
Goethe offers some incisive and damning - for one to whom these things may seem a struggle - judgement on focus and memory: "When you lose interest in anything, you also lose the memory for it.". Later he further observes "It is only because we have not understood a thing that we cannot repeat it without alteration," or, put in another way, "Every man hears only what he understands." A great polymath like Goethe did not have to force himself to remember anything, it came naturally out of love. If you struggle with memory and passion, perhaps you are forcing your interest in an unnatural direction. After all, “a man is not deceived by others, he deceives himself."
Self reflection in this regard is also made difficult by language. “Let every man examine himself, and he will find this a much harder task than he might suppose; for, unhappily, a man usually takes words as mere make-shifts; his knowledge and his thought are in most cases better than his method of expression. False, irrelevant, and futile ideas may arise in ourselves and others [...] let us persist in the effort to remove them as far as we can, by plain and honest purpose." Our thoughts are constructed by means of our too too solid language, and it is challenging to effectively perform self-reflection and analysis to the required level of precision. So how do we know what is right for US?
"How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking, but by doing. Try to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth. [...] But what is your duty? The claims of the day." Goethe became the man he was through action and exploration. "It is not enough to know, we must also apply; it is not enough to will, we must also do." But the germ of a thought or intention, if firmly held, cultivated and defended from the rain and frost of countervailing impulses and idleness, will always give rise to the growth of action: "strictly speaking, everything depends upon a man's intentions; where these exist, thoughts appear; and as the intentions are, so are the thoughts."
Good conduct
This love of, and focus on, action runs throughout these reflections and maxims. Goethe is a well-wishing and personable man, and this humanity springs joyfully from the page. To act well is also to act courteously and politely: "A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait." Furthermore, "Ingratitude is always a king of weakness. I have never known men of ability to be ungrateful." To act as is proper, internally and externally, is for him the essence of greatness. To do so across time is to girder one’s life against mischance and obtain self-knowledge as above. "Memories may vanish so long as the moment of judgement does not fail you"
Action towards ideal
One of the first maxims presented in this collection is: "Against criticism a man can neither protect nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him." This is a quote which has obtained some reach on its own merits, not least because it is true. Having obtained self-knowledge through action and refined conduct, Great Men (though Goethe would not define himself as one he is deservingly a Great Man of the Arts) are distinguished by their action towards an ideal. At first, aspirations of greatness are perceived as terrifying boundaries to achievement: "A great work limits us for the moment, because we feel it above our powers; and only in so far as we afterwards incorporate it with our culture, and make it part of our mind and body, does it become a dear and worthy object."
Indeed,"It is no wonder that we all more or less delight in the mediocre, because it leaves us in peace: it gives us the comfortable feeling of intercourse with what is like ourselves." Furthermore "It is with history as with nature and with everything of any depth, it may be past, present, or future: the further we seriously pursue it, the more difficult are the problems that appear. The man who is not afraid of them, but attacks them bravely, as a feeling of higher culture and greater ease the further he progresses." For this reason, "every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be steep and inaccessible."
"To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character; and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years." All Great Men of history have had impossible dreams, acted towards them relentlessly without surrender and, regardless of the end result, achieve greatness. As such, "Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than lower ones quite obtained."
Society and nature
Particularly in the sections on art and science, two recurrent areas of focus emerge. Whilst Goethe is a lover of people and society, for him (and here he speaks from the specific perspective of science) "there is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few powerful men to lead the way; of accommodating rascals and submissive weaklings; and of a mass of men who trot after them, without in the least knowing their own mind".
Whilst society is a source of personal joy, in the arts and sciences it is the agent of dogma, and in contrast "every man should remain in the path he has struck out for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion". The same holds for people: "We do not learn to know men if they come to us; we must do to them to find out what they are."
Rather, Goethe sees Nature as the ultimate source of truth in action, the arts and the sciences, noting that "The beautiful is a manifestation of secret laws of nature, which, without its presence, would never have been revealed."
***
All in all, we are treated to the luscious vistas of one of the most fertile minds in history. To end, I offer this uplifting reminder: "we look back upon our life only as on a thing of broken pieces, because our misses and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have done, and attained".
September 25, 2014
Nah, I don't know. This book irked me. I got a lot of neat sayings from it - I'll type them up later & add some, if I remember - but it's just not me. It had little spurts of things that resembled sweet pathways to me, but a lot of it felt like a slog. I think the big difference is that Goethe was an old man, & I am a young man. Also, I think it's fair to say I much more enjoyed the maxims than the reflections. Some of them being broken apart made no sense to me - they literally don't work without one another & quite obviously were just broken in half when in fact the text continues imperceptibly.
Would I recommend this book to others? I'd say to flick through a few different sections - if you find stuff you like, it's not really a long read, so it could be worth going through. I'm not sure I found any of his ideas revolutionary (but I'm not 100% sure on that - there might have been one or two minor revolutions of the mind. But even minor revolutions of the mind are revolutionary & not to be swept under the rug) but there were definitely dozens of great nuggets to take home to the wife & kids on a hungry night.
Goethe was German.
Would I recommend this book to others? I'd say to flick through a few different sections - if you find stuff you like, it's not really a long read, so it could be worth going through. I'm not sure I found any of his ideas revolutionary (but I'm not 100% sure on that - there might have been one or two minor revolutions of the mind. But even minor revolutions of the mind are revolutionary & not to be swept under the rug) but there were definitely dozens of great nuggets to take home to the wife & kids on a hungry night.
Goethe was German.
July 26, 2010
The introduction makes an excellent accidental case that this is a printout of Goethe's Facebook status updates:
"Goethe probably regarded his reflections as miniature creative language events to be shared with his readers, reflecting the time- and life-sequence of his personal reactions."
So, you have wonderful little maxims like this:
"How could a man claim to be a master of his subject if he has taught nothing that's unnecessary!"
and
"Bonus vir semper tiro."
And you also have head scratchers and weird little lines like these:
"One brother broke pots, the other brother broke pitchers. Destructive goings-on!"
or
"As soon as good works and their merits cease, sentimentality immediately takes over in the case of Protestants."
OMG!
"Goethe probably regarded his reflections as miniature creative language events to be shared with his readers, reflecting the time- and life-sequence of his personal reactions."
So, you have wonderful little maxims like this:
"How could a man claim to be a master of his subject if he has taught nothing that's unnecessary!"
and
"Bonus vir semper tiro."
And you also have head scratchers and weird little lines like these:
"One brother broke pots, the other brother broke pitchers. Destructive goings-on!"
or
"As soon as good works and their merits cease, sentimentality immediately takes over in the case of Protestants."
OMG!
March 31, 2010
I wish there was an option to give a book "0" stars. I just don't believe that one man is responsible for 1413 maxims and reflections that all seem to be cleverly obvious. I couldn't finish this, but it's possible I will since Experiment #6 for Creative Non-Fiction Workshop has to be influenced by one of these. There's got to be a few good ones...
April 5, 2015
İ love this reflections book- İ read it and read it since 15 years and can't get enough of it- it is so rich with moving thoughts
October 4, 2015
This isn't a book that one reads start to finish, but some great observations to take in.
August 21, 2019
"Hope is the second soul of those who are unfortunate."
"Our whole achievement is to give up our existence in order to exist."
"Human nature needs to be numbed from time to time, but without being put to sleep; hence smoking, spirits, opiates."
"The person who wants to do better than everybody else is generally deceiving himself: he is just doing all he can and then is pleased to fancy that this is as much and more than everybody else can do."
"Certain minds have to be left to their private illusions."
"When I see a misprint I always imagine that there has been some new invention."
"The world is a bell that is cracked: it clatters, but does not ring out clearly."
"A right answer is like a loving kiss."
"You can’t love anyone unless you can be sure of his presence when you need him."
"You can’t get rid of what really belongs to you, even if you throw it away."
"You only know those who cause you suffering."
"Our whole achievement is to give up our existence in order to exist."
"Human nature needs to be numbed from time to time, but without being put to sleep; hence smoking, spirits, opiates."
"The person who wants to do better than everybody else is generally deceiving himself: he is just doing all he can and then is pleased to fancy that this is as much and more than everybody else can do."
"Certain minds have to be left to their private illusions."
"When I see a misprint I always imagine that there has been some new invention."
"The world is a bell that is cracked: it clatters, but does not ring out clearly."
"A right answer is like a loving kiss."
"You can’t love anyone unless you can be sure of his presence when you need him."
"You can’t get rid of what really belongs to you, even if you throw it away."
"You only know those who cause you suffering."
August 21, 2024
- "Arta e o mijlocitoare a inexprimabilului."
- "Bunătatea Inimii ocupă un loc mai întins decât vastul Câmp al Dreptății."
- "Din Natură din orice parte ai privi, țâșnește Infinitul."
- "E mai bine să te înșeli in Prieteni, decât să-ți înșeli Prietenii."
- "Natura organică: viața până în cel mai mic Amănunt; Arta: Simțire până în cel mai mic Amănunt.:
- "Cine vrea să conteste Natura ca Organ al Divinității, n-are decât să conteste orice Revelație."
- "E plăcut lucru să studiezi în același timp Natura și pe tine însuți, fără a silui nici Natura nici propriul tău Spirit, ci, printr.o blândă Acțiune reciprocă, cumpănindu-le pe amândouă."
- "Dacă ar știi ei unde se află ce caută, n-ar mai căuta."
- "A gândi e mai interesant decât a ști, dar nu decât a intui."
- "Tocmai acea parte din Opera de Artă a Naturii care frapează pe Oamenii necultivați nu este Natura (din afară) ci omul (natura dinăuntru)."
- "Bunătatea Inimii ocupă un loc mai întins decât vastul Câmp al Dreptății."
- "Din Natură din orice parte ai privi, țâșnește Infinitul."
- "E mai bine să te înșeli in Prieteni, decât să-ți înșeli Prietenii."
- "Natura organică: viața până în cel mai mic Amănunt; Arta: Simțire până în cel mai mic Amănunt.:
- "Cine vrea să conteste Natura ca Organ al Divinității, n-are decât să conteste orice Revelație."
- "E plăcut lucru să studiezi în același timp Natura și pe tine însuți, fără a silui nici Natura nici propriul tău Spirit, ci, printr.o blândă Acțiune reciprocă, cumpănindu-le pe amândouă."
- "Dacă ar știi ei unde se află ce caută, n-ar mai căuta."
- "A gândi e mai interesant decât a ști, dar nu decât a intui."
- "Tocmai acea parte din Opera de Artă a Naturii care frapează pe Oamenii necultivați nu este Natura (din afară) ci omul (natura dinăuntru)."
August 26, 2024
Great page-at-a-time read. Thoughts on life, philosophy, love, fate, and much more. Some of my favorites include:
No intelligent man experiences a minor stupidity.
There is nothing more dreadful than active ignorance.
Reasonable and unreasonable things suffer the same opposition.
A noble philosopher described architecture as frozen music...
The clearest indication of character is what people find laughable.
Behaviour is a mirror in which everyone shows his image.
What is general? The individual case. What is specific? Millions of cases.
Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.
Not everything desirable is attainable; not everything that can be known is knowable.
Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never known competent people to be ungrateful.
Recommended.
No intelligent man experiences a minor stupidity.
There is nothing more dreadful than active ignorance.
Reasonable and unreasonable things suffer the same opposition.
A noble philosopher described architecture as frozen music...
The clearest indication of character is what people find laughable.
Behaviour is a mirror in which everyone shows his image.
What is general? The individual case. What is specific? Millions of cases.
Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.
Not everything desirable is attainable; not everything that can be known is knowable.
Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never known competent people to be ungrateful.
Recommended.
April 25, 2020
I found this book a really profound and fascinating read. I read one review that described it as one of the first self-help books, and I feel that description really summarises what's available here. His mind was rich and full of great ideas, providing a framework in which to encourage us to live and act in the world. With a great emphasis on encouraging creativity and going against idleness and typical societal thinking it truly is a little treasure which is ended with a beautiful piece called 'Alphorism On Nature'. That alone is a delightful short essay in itself, a piece that should be encouraged to read. Throughly recommend this, it's well worth your time.
October 27, 2017
This is a pretty short book of sayings that is divided into four sections - Life and Character, Literature and Art, Science, and Nature: Aphorisms. Some of the sayings were pithy and enjoyable, others were more complex and required some chewing. It's sort of like reading the book of Proverbs. There's not a general storyline, so you could pick it up at random times and just take in a few sayings. While reading it, I was thinking this would be a great book to leave by the toilet to take a few pages in every now and then.
February 19, 2025
3.5/5 ⭐️
It's always interesting to have a little peek inside a the head of great thinker/writer like goethe. We get a view on his unique personality as well as how he saw things.
He's so interesting to me. Definitely will read his other books!
It's always interesting to have a little peek inside a the head of great thinker/writer like goethe. We get a view on his unique personality as well as how he saw things.
"When I err, everyone can see it; but not when I lie."
"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.
He's so interesting to me. Definitely will read his other books!
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