All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Strike the dog dead, it's but a critic!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Critics should not be taken too seriously, as they often lack the capability to create themselves.
This quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe suggests that critics are often unworthy of serious consideration, likening them to a 'dog' that is dead and no longer has any power. In the context of creative pursuits, it implies that one should not be deterred by criticism, especially from those who do not engage in the creative process themselves. It serves as a reminder to focus on one's own passions and endeavors rather than the opinions of naysayers.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
When discussing artistic creation, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of personal expression over outside criticism.
More from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
All quotes βDestiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself step by step. To have seen my position so clearly, and yet to have acted so like a child!
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Similar quotes
The battle against the Devil, which is the principal task of Saint Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today, because the Devil is still alive and active in the world.
A man may not transgress the bounds of major morals, but may make errors in minor morals.
The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own.
This is a steady, ceaseless process, impossible to contain as long as the economy driven by the endless accumulation of capital. The system may prolong its life by slowing down some of the activities which are wearing it out, but death always looms somewhere on the horizon.
A good conscience fears no witness, but a guilty conscience is solicitous even in solitude. If we do nothing but what is honest, let all the world know it. But if otherwise, what does it signify to have nobody else know it, so long as I know it myself? Miserable is he who slights that witness.
There have been low moments before, but Christianity is an incredibly adaptable organism, using different parts of its repertoire to mutate into new ecological niches, yet preserving intact its story of grace, of love improbably triumphant.