Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Johann Goethe

by Philip Yaffe


Part 9 of an occasional series


I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school.


I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". These short quotations can cover an unlimited variety of subjects: love, religion, politics, human nature, etc. What unites them is their ability to say more in one or two sentences than could be expressed in a thousand-word treatise. It's like being able to pour a liter of liquid into a half-liter bottle.


They are superb examples of Mark Twain's famous dictum, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."


In principle, all writers and public speakers are capable of producing pithy prose, but clearly some are better at it than others.


Any collection of pithy prose must necessarily be biased in terms of what it includes and excludes. I make no apologies for my selections, only for the hundreds of other meritorious quotations I had to leave out.


No one will agree with all these quotations; this was not their intention. You may even find some of them repugnant or outrageous. This was their intention.


We seldom learn anything of value from what we already agree with. Only those ideas that grate on our nerves can open our minds. As with oysters, irritation can produce pearls. So if anything you are about to read annoys or shocks you, try to think clearly and dispassionately about what it is saying. You will either be confirmed in your current belief or shaken into re-examining it.


Either way, you win!


This article is part of an occasional series. In each article, I will be offering more amusing, educating, and exasperating quotations to your judgment. But just to be certain that we agree on what we are talking about, here it is in a nutshell.


Pithy Prose: A quotation where at first you may not be quite certain what it means. But when you become certain, you become equally certain that it couldn't have been said better any other way. In short, big ideas in small packages.


If you have a better definition of pithy prose, please contact me. I would love to hear it.


Who Is Johann Goethe?


Johann Goethe (1749 - 1812), whose full name was Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, was a German poet, novelist, playwright, and natural philosopher. He gained early fame with his novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther", but his most famous work is the poetic drama "Faust". As a natural philosopher, Goethe made important discoveries about plant and animal life. His unorthodox, non-Newtonian theory of light and color strongly influenced a number of later abstract painters.


1. A clever man commits no minor blunders.


2. A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.


3. A person hears only what he understands.


4. A person places himself on a level with the ones he praises.


5. A useless life is an early death.


6. Age merely shows what children we remain.


7. All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.


8. All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.


9. As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.


10. Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.


11. Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.


12. Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.


13. Character develops itself in the stream of life.


14. Common sense is the genius of humanity.


15. Correction does much, but encouragement does more.


16. Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public.


17. Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.


18. Do not give in too much to feelings. An overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.


19. Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of men.


20. Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.


21. Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.


22. Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.


23. Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.


24. Everything in the world may be endured except continual prosperity.


25. Few people have the imagination for reality.


26. For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him, he must regard himself as greater than he is.


27. Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.


28. He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.


29. He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.


30. I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.


31. I will listen to anyone's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to yourself.


32. If you start to think of your physical and moral condition, you usually find that you are sick.


33. Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago.


34. In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.


35. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.


36. Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.


37. Life is the childhood of our immortality.


38. Love can do much, but duty more.


39. Love does not dominate; it cultivates.


40. Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.


41. Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.


42. No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.


43. None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.


44. Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.


45. Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.


46. Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.


47. Superstition is the poetry of life.


48. Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.


49. The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.


50. The coward only threatens when he is safe.


51. The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.


52. The little man is still a man.


53. The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.


54. There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.


55. To rule is easy, to govern difficult.


56. We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.


57. We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.


58. What by a straight path cannot be reached by crooked ways is never won.


59. What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.


60. Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.


61. When ideas fail, words come in very handy.


62. Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.


63. Wisdom is found only in truth.


Previously in this Series


Part 1: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Mark Twain
Part 2: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde
Part 3: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of People Named "W"
Part 4: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Anatole France
Part 5: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Ambrose Bierce
Part 6: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche
Part 7: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of People Name "H"
Part 8: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Anon


Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. His recently published book In the “I� of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).

For further information, contact:

Philip Yaffe
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 660 0405
phil.yaffe@yahoo.com, phil.yaffe@gmail.com