Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Limits Quotations

The human mind will not be confined to any limits.

It is after all the greatest art to limit and isolate oneself.

Man is not born to solve the problems of the universe, but to find out what he has to do... within the limits of his comprehension.

Fortunately, we can take in only so much misfortune; what exceeds that limit either destroys us or leaves us indifferent.

The older we get the more we must limit ourselves if we wish to be active.

It is working within limits that the craftsman reveals himself.

When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined; when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which again have no further end than to prolong a wretched existence; and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation... when I consider all this... I am silent.

Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.

The field of experience is the whole universe in all directions. Theory remains shut up within the limits of human faculties.