Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

Taste is only to be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good but of the truly excellent.

If they who understand the utmost refinement of any art will enjoy the perfection of it in a manner superior to other men, will they not amply pay for that advantage in feeling more than other men the imperfection of it, which in the natural course of things must so much oftener fall in their way?

Beauty is the sole ambition, the exclusive goal of Taste.

Americans are much easier to please than Canadians. The American taste is less critical. Canadians are more cultured, they are more aware of the arts than Americans.

There's a really high emphasis on having good taste in my household and having nuanced opinions. We're always critically analyzing stuff.

Pedants make a great rout about criticism, as if it were a science of great depth, and required much pains and knowledge--criticism however is only the result of good sense, taste and judgment--three qualities that indeed seldom are found together, and extremely seldom in a pedant, which most critics are.

Expertness of taste is at once the result and reward of constant exercise of thinking.

To understand bad taste one must have very good taste.

There are some readers who have never read an essay on taste; and if they take my advice they never will, for they can no more improve their taste by so doing than they could improve their appetite or digestion by studying a cookery-book.

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.

A fastidious taste is like a squeamish appetite; the one has its origin in some disease of the mind, as the other has in some ailment of the stomach.

Good taste is synonymous with success in all fields of life. It's not a question of money, but of a trained eye.

Taste consists in the power of judging; genius in the power of executing.

It is known that the taste--whatever it is--is improved exactly as we improve our judgment, by extending our knowledge, by a steady attention to our object, and by frequent exercise.

Taste has never been corrupted by simplicity.

Good taste is not a substitute for knowledge

They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.

Good taste ruins certain true spiritual values: such as taste itself.

Taste may be compared to that exquisite sense of the bee, which instantly discovers and extracts the quintessence of every flower, and disregards all the rest of it.

There are three classes of readers; some enjoy without judgment; others judge without enjoyment; and some there are who judge while they enjoy, and enjoy while they judge. The latter class reproduces the work of art on which it is engaged. Its numbers are very small.

As readers, we remain in the nursery stage so long as we cannot distinguish between taste and judgment, so long, that is, as the only possible verdicts we can pass on a book are two: this I like; this I don't like. For an adult reader, the possible verdicts are five: I can see this is good and I like it; I can see this is good but I don't like it; I can see this is good and, though at present I don't like it, I believe that with perseverance I shall come to like it; I can see that this is trash but I like it; I can see that this is trash and I don't like it.

Beautiful works do not intoxicate, but they enchant.

Museums are important. Design and art schools are important because they show how it should be done at the highest level of quality. Once people are exposed to quality, they recognize it right away and they appreciate it. People's tastes are changed by exposure to quality. Unless they can see it they can't want it. That's the brilliance of Apple - they provide quality in design.

Good taste has everything to do with being cultured and being refined, and if art has to do with anything, it has to do with being human.

The man who has honesty, integrity, the love of inquiry, the desire to see beyond, is ready to appreciate good art.