1001Philosophers

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 – 1832

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) was a German philosopher of the Modern era, associated with Enlightenment and German Idealism.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, scientist, and the towering figure of German Classicism. His novel The Sorrows of Young Werther made him famous across Europe at twenty-five, and his lifelong labor on the verse drama Faust produced one of the great works of European literature. He served as a minister at Weimar, conducted original research in optics, botany, and morphology, and developed a distinctive philosophy of nature against Newton's. His friendship with Schiller and his conversations with Eckermann shaped the cultural and philosophical horizon of his age.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was the central figure of German cultural life across more than half a century — poet, dramatist, novelist, natural philosopher, and minister of state. Born in Frankfurt to a wealthy patrician family, educated in law at Leipzig and Strasbourg, he settled in Weimar in 1775 at the invitation of Duke Carl August and remained there for the rest of his life.

Goethe's literary corpus is enormous and shaped subsequent European letters decisively. The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) launched the Sturm und Drang movement; Faust, Parts I and II (1808, 1832) is one of the most ambitious works of European drama; the novels Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Elective Affinities are foundational works of the Bildungsroman tradition. His scientific work — the Theory of Colours, Italian Journey, the morphological writings — argued for a phenomenological-organicist alternative to Newtonian and mechanist natural philosophy.

Goethe's relations with Schiller, Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Schopenhauer, and the early Romantics make him a figure of philosophy as much as of literature. His personal philosophy — a humane, restless, anti-dogmatic worldliness that resists every system — inflects German thought from his death in 1832 forward. The Goethezeit — the age of Goethe — covers nearly the entire span of German Idealism and Romanticism, with Goethe at its center.

Key facts

Nationality
German
Era
Modern
Movements
Enlightenment, German Idealism

Selected quotes

  • Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

    “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

  • Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

    “A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.”

  • Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

    “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

  • “There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”

    Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine tätige Unwissenheit.

  • Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

    “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

Read all Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by topic

Frequently asked about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When did Johann Wolfgang von Goethe live?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749 and died in 1832.
Where was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German philosopher of the Modern era.
What philosophical movements is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe associated with?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was associated with Enlightenment and German Idealism.
What was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe known for?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, scientist, and the towering figure of German Classicism.
How many quotes are attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe?
There are 44 attributed quotations from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.

Quotes that are not actually from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

These lines are widely circulated as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but they do not appear in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.

  • “Reden ist uns ein Bedürfnis, Zuhören ist eine Kunst.”

    Actually by: Source uncertain

    This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Talking is a necessity, listening is an art. | According to http://falschzitate.blogspot.de/2017/04/reden-ist-uns-ein-bedurfnis-zuhoren-ist.html pure invention.

  • “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

    Actually by: Source uncertain

    This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Attributed to Zig Ziglar

  • “He is a prophet and not a poet and therefore his Koran is to be seen as Divine Law, and not as a book of a human being made for education or entertainment.”

    Actually by: Source uncertain

    This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: On Muhammad , in Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Noten und Abhandlungen zum West-östlichen Diwan (1958), WA I, 7, 32; translator unknown. Actual quotation in context: "He [Muhammad] vehemently asserts and protests that he is a prophet and not a poet; furthermore, that his Qur'an is to be regarded as divine

  • “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

    Actually by: Source uncertain

    This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Attributed to Goethe by popular British novelist Marie Corelli in her essay "The Spirit of Work" as published in The Queen's Christmas carol : an anthology of poems, stories, essays, drawings and music / by British authors, artists and composers in 1905 by The Daily Mail of London. | Attributed to G

  • “They abandon themselves credulously to every fanatic scoundrel who speaks to their baser qualities, confirms them in their vices, teaches them nationality means barbarism and isolation.”

    Actually by: Source uncertain

    This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Attributed to Goethe by German novelist Thomas Mann in his novel The Beloved Returns . The line was Mann's invention, though it was later quoted during the Nuremburg trials by prosecutor Sir Hartley Shawcross , who quoted the passage as if it truly had been written by Goethe. [ 7 ]

  • “Encourage the beautiful, the useful will take care of itself.”

    Actually by: Source uncertain

    widely attributed to Goethe without citation from the works of Goethe (Disputed.)