The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit - this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden. Johann von Goethe More Quotes by Johann von Goethe More Quotes From Johann von Goethe If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own. Johann von Goethe Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action. Johann von Goethe There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. Johann von Goethe A man who does not know foreign language is ignorant of his own. Johann von Goethe For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is. Johann von Goethe Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom, Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose Johann von Goethe Knowing is not enough we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do. Johann von Goethe One never goes so far as when one doesn't know where one is going. Johann von Goethe Rest not Life is sweeping by go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time. Johann von Goethe Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be. Johann von Goethe We know accurately only when we know little with knowledge doubt increases. Johann von Goethe What government is the best -- That which teaches us to govern ourselves. Johann von Goethe Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man's life has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires. Johann von Goethe Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of Life. Johann von Goethe Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man. Johann von Goethe We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. Johann von Goethe To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed Johann von Goethe Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game. Johann von Goethe I find the great thing in this world is, not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. Johann von Goethe Life is the childhood of our immortality. Johann von Goethe