As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German poet, playwright and natural scientist, author of Faust and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Alongside literature he worked seriously on botany and a theory of colour, and held state office in Weimar for over fifty years. His output covers nearly every genre available to him.
About this theme: Wisdom
In the Western tradition wisdom is almost always defined by what it is not. Socrates is famous for claiming to know that he knew nothing; that was not modesty but method. Knowledge is a set of facts, wisdom is knowing what to do with them — and, more often, knowing when there are not enough of them.
More by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
- He who moves not forward goes backward.
- In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world all rests on perseverance.
- Nothing is worth more than this day.
- Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
More on Wisdom
- Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.— Lao Tzu
- An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.— Benjamin Franklin
- Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.— Arthur Schopenhauer
- He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.— Lao Tzu
- Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.— Baruch Spinoza