Quote by: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tell a wise person, or else keep silent, because the mass man will mock it right away. I praise what is truly alive, what longs to be burned to death. In the calm water of the love-nights, where you were begotten, where you have begotten, a strange feeling comes over you, when you see the silent candle burning. Now you are no longer caught in the obsession with darkness, and a desire for higher love-making sweeps you upward. Distance does not make you falter. Now, arriving in magic, flying, and finally, insane for the light, you are the butterfly and you are gone. And so long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow, you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.


Author Bio


  • NameJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • DescriptionGerman writer, artist, and politician
  • BornAugust 28, 1749
  • DiedMarch 22, 1832
  • CountryFrankfurt
  • ProfessionPoet Lawyer; Theatre Manager; Botanist; Politician; Painter; Philosopher; Theologian; Jurist; Art Critic; Music Critic; Geheimrat; Librarian; Poet; Travel Writer; Physicist; Literary; Novelist; Playwright; Autobiographer; Diplomat; Statesman; Polymath; Aphorist; Diarist; Mineralogist; Zoologist; Art Theorist
  • WorksFaust; The Sorrows Of Young Werther; Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship; Elective Affinities; Prometheus; Theory Of Colours; Italian Journey; West-östlicher Diwan
  • AwardsMerit Order Of The Bavarian Crown; Officer Of The Legion Of Honour; Order Of St. Anna