Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

Unless people can be kept in the dark, it is best for those who love the truth to give them the full light.

It is better to have no ideas than false ones.

A stated truth loses its grace, but a repeated error appears insipid and ridiculous.

Error, when she retraces her steps, has farther to go before she can arrive at truth than ignorance.

Knowledge being to be had only of visible and certain truth, error is not a fault of our knowledge, but a mistake of our judgment, giving assent to that which is not true.

Error is worse than ignorance.

We do not progress from error to truth, but from truth to truth

There is so much falsehood both at home and at school. At home one must not speak, and at school we have to stand and tell lies to the children.

Truthfulness. He will never willingly tolerate an untruth, but will hate it as much as he loves truth... And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth?

Wipe your glosses with what you know.

Lies were lethal, however honourable the intentions of the liar. They deprived people of the opportunity to know the basic facts of their own lives.

I seek the truth...it is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm.

I believe that politicians should speak the truth all the time. Invariably there will be occasions when you make statements that are factually incorrect due to an error.

The trouble with the world is not that people know too little; it's that they know so many things that just aren't so.

Educated fools; from uneducated schools.

There should be no distinction between what we write down, and what we really know.

A charlatan makes obscure what is clear; a thinker makes clear what is obscure.

All schools, all colleges, have two great functions: to confer, and to conceal, valuable knowledge. The theological knowledge which they conceal cannot justly be regarded as less valuable than that which they reveal. That is, when a man is buying a basket of strawberries it can profit him to know that the bottom half of it is rotten.

I've read a lot of books, so I know bunches of stuff that sounds like it could be true.

Democracy is a constant tension between truth and half-truth and, in the arsenal of truth, there is no greater weapon than fact.

the problem with knowing is that it takes away the possibility of pretending!

A few drops of science will often disinfect an entire barrel full of ignorance and prejudice.