Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on potential

If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet

Goethe on knowledge

Knowing is not enough. We must apply.

~ ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe on freedom and slavery

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

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe on acting as one thinks

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe