Quotes from Elective Affinities

“Niemand ist mehr Sklave, als der sich für frei hält, ohne es zu sein.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they find to laugh at.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Artists and artisans both demonstrate with perfect clarity that a person is least able to appropriate for himself those things which are most peculiarly his. His works leave him as birds do the best in which they were hatched.

In this respect an architect's fate is the strangest of all. How often he employs his whole intellect and warmth of feeling in the creation of rooms from which he must exclude himself. Royal halls owe their splendor to him, and he may not share in the enjoyment of their finest effects. In temples he draws the line between himself and the holy of holies; the steps he built to ceremonies that lift up the heady, he may no longer climb; just as the goldsmith worships only from afar the monstrance which he wrought in the fire and set with jewels. With the keys of the palace the architect hands over all it's comforts to the wealthy man, and has not the least part in them. Surely in this way art must little by little grow away from the artist, if the work, like a child provided for, no longer teaches back to touch its father.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“But there are times," said Charlotte, "when it is necessary and an act of friendship to write nothing rather than not to write.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Fortunately a human being can comprehend only a certain degree of unhappiness; anything beyond it destroys him or leaves him cold. There are situations in which fear and hope become one and the same, cancel one another out, and lose themselves in a dark insensateness. How else could we know the people we love best to be in continual danger and yet go on with our daily lives as usual?”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Oh, I envy you!" he cried. "You are still nourished by yesterday's alms, but yesterday's happiness no longer nourishes me.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“It is such an agreeable feeling to be busy with something one is only half-competent to do that nobody should criticize the dilettante for taking up an art he will never learn, or blame the artist who leaves the territory of his own art for the pleasure of trying himself in a neighbouring one.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Even people who are entirely strange and indifferent to one another will exchange confidences if they live together for a while, and a certain intimacy is bound to develop.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“No one can walk beneath palm trees with impunity, and ideas are sure to change in a land where elephants and tigers are at home.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“So all in their different fashions pursued their daily lives, thoughtfully or not; everything seemed to be following is usual course, as is the way in monstrously strange circumstances when everything is at stake: we go on with our lives as though nothing were the matter.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“We are never content with portraits of people we know. For that reason I have always felt sorry for portrait painters. We rarely ask the impossible of anyone, but of them we do. They are required to get everybody's relationship with the subject, everybody's affection or dislike, into the picture; and not merely represent their own view of a person but what everybody else's might be too.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“How many new discoveries does not a person make when on some high point he ascends but a single story higher.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Few people are capable of concerning themselves with the most recent past. Either the present holds us violently captive, or we lose ourselves in the distant past and strive with might and main to recall and restore what is irrevocably lost.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“O viață fără iubire, fără vecinătatea celui iubit nu e decât o comédie à tiroirs, o proastă comedie cu sertărașe. Le tragi afară unul după altul și le împingi iarăși la loc, trecând în grabă la celălalt. Tot ce se petrece, fie chiar bun și însemnat, abia dacă se înlănțuie. Trebuie pretutindeni s-o iei de la început și ai vrea pretutindeni să termini.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Schönheit ist überall ein gar willkommener Gast.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Wir haben nicht verschuldet, unglücklich zu werden; aber auch nicht verdient, zusammen glücklich zu sein.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“E s'abituava a disfarsi di tutto, per non aver più niente da perdere.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

“Amiamo tanto guardare al futuro perché desideriamo volgere a nostro favore, con desideri silenziosi, l'incertezza che in esso si muove.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Elective Affinities

About the author

Popular quotes

“I sat belonely

I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.

I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wondrous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice.

'Speak up, come forth, you ravel me',
I potty menthol shout.
'I know you hiddy by this tree'.
But still she won't come out.

Such softly singing lulled me sleep,
an hour or two or so
I wakeny slow and took a peep
and still no lady show.

Then suddy on a little twig
I thought I see a sight,
A tiny little tiny pig,
that sing with all it's might.

'I thought you were a lady'.
I giggle, - well I may,
To my suprise the lady,
got up - and flew away.”
― John Lennon, quote from In His Own Write

“I’m Emma. I’m here to make you see the meaning of your life.” Her exalted words were totally conquered by her dragging tone and lack of eye contact.”
― Debra Anastasia, quote from Crushed Seraphim

“Our smaller stories are constructed along the plot lines of control and gratification. Once we begin to live by this false self, Satan and his minions sabotage the story to make sure we are exposed. Then he mocks us for our foolishness and hypocrisy for hiding behind such a facade in the first place. Other times, he simply leaves us to die in costume.”
― John Eldredge, quote from The Sacred Romance Drawing Closer To The Heart Of God

“But yes, exactly that. Think! With thought, all problems can be solved.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Three Act Tragedy

“So I would teach myself to live in constant uncertainty, moment by moment, step by step. I would live as if I were dead already. With nothing to lose, nothing could surprise me, nothing could stop me from fighting; my fears would not block me from following my instincts, and no risk would be too great.”
― quote from Miracle in the Andes

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.