Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to.

How can one learn to know oneself? Never by introspection, rather by action.

I discovered myself!

We have to have a very clear understanding of ourselves.

The self-explorer, whether he wants to or not, becomes the explorer of everything else.

How can we learn self-knowledge? Never by taking thought but rather by action. Try to do your duty and you'll soon discover what you're like.

I've spent my life cultivating knowledge of myself. But the more I know myself, the more utterly mysterious I become.

To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.

We read books to find out who we are.

To know oneself is to study oneself in action, which is relationship.

Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement.

One's own self is well hidden from one's own self; of all mines of treasure, one's own is the last to be dug up.

There's no journey worth taking except the journey through one's self. That's the most important journey you take. I found that out as I went around the world many times: I was learning about me.

A man may perform astonishing feats and comprehend a vast amount of knowledge, and yet have no understanding of himself. But suffering directs a man to look within. If it succeeds, then there, within him, is the beginning of his learning.

I've been living with myself all of my life, so I know all of me. So when I watch me, all I see is me. It's boring.

When the traveler goes alone he gets acquainted with himself.

To travel is to take a journey into yourself.

We never completely comprehend ourselves, but we can do far more than comprehend.

Writing is a really good first step toward that goal of knowing yourself.

The ultimate mystery is one's own self.

Walk slowly; all you can ever come to is yourself.

I always write to understand my place in the world. I can see myself and my life unfold on the page, and I can understand my strengths, my weaknesses - I can see where I need to step up a bit.

The more I talk about things, the more I understand myself.

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.

The only journey is the one within.