Tag: Goethe

Goethe on Commitment

Thus spake the great Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

I have not read any of his works, I sadly confess. But I regularly read his quotes that are easily found on the web (wikiquotes and goodreads are great sources.) And of course he is quoted frequently in books and articles.

Goethe said, “All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.”

I think over honestly what great minds have already thought. Who was Goethe? Continue reading “Goethe on Commitment”

Out of the Ruts of Ordinary Perception

“To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large — this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual.” Continue reading “Out of the Ruts of Ordinary Perception”