All JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE Quotes about “Books”

“If a man writes a book, let him set down only what he knows. I have guesses enough of my own.”
“I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.”
“Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.”
“Nature is, after all, the only book that offers important content on every page.”
“The dear good people don't know how long it takes to learn to read. I've been at it eighty years, and can't say yet that I've reached the goal.”
“Sweet moonlight, shining full and clear, Why do you light my torture here? How often have you seen me toil, Burning last drops of midnight oil. On books and papers as I read, My friend, your mournful light you shed. If only I could flee this den And walk the mountain-tops again, Through moonlit meadows make my way, In mountain caves with spirits play - Released from learning's musty cell, Your healing dew would make me well!”
“Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.”
“Certain books seem to be written, not that we might learn from them, but in order that we might see how much the author knows.”
“Daily life is more instructive than the most effective book.”
“Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at once the whole scope of a work according to its merits. Do we not mark in a book passages which seem to have a direct reference to ourselves? Young people especially, who have failed in acquiring a complete cultivation of mind, are roused in a praiseworthy way by brilliant passages.”
“Beware of a man of one book.”
“Properly speaking, we learn from those books only that we cannot judge. The author of a book that I am competent to criticise would have to learn from me.”
“Of the book of books most wondrous is the tender book of love.”
“So then the year is repeating its old story again. We are come once more, thank God! to its most charming chapter. The violets and the Mayflowers are as its inscriptions or vignettes. It always makes a pleasant impression on us, when we open again at these pages of the book of life.”
“Never let a day pass without looking at some perfect work of art, hearing some great piece of music and reading, in part, some great book.”

More Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote about:

You may also like: