All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Superstition is the poetry of life.
Interpretation
Superstitions give a poetic and imaginative lens through which to view life.
In this quote, Goethe suggests that superstition serves a vital role in the human experience by enriching our lives with a sense of mystery and imagination. While often seen as irrational, superstitions can add depth and meaning, allowing individuals to engage with the world in a more emotional and artistic way. They reflect our deeper hopes, fears, and beliefs, illustrating the complexities of life beyond mere empirical understanding.
In practice
This quote can be shared during discussions about the role of beliefs in human culture.
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Destiny 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.
Money has transformed every watchdog, every independent authority. Medical doctors are increasingly gulled by the lobbying of pharmaceutical salesmen.
What we call our data are really our own constructions of other peopleβs constructions of what they and their compatriots are up to.
Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.
If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal who hasn't done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead. So, rather than seeing if perfume irritates a bunny rabbit's eyes, they should throw it in Charles Manson's eyes and ask him if it hurts.
It is from the midst of this putrid sewer that the greatest river of human industry springs up and carries fertility to the whole world. From this foul drain pure gold flows forth.
The possession of wealth leads almost inevitably to its abuse. It is the chief, if not the only, cause of evils which desolate this world below. The thirst for gold is responsible for the most regrettable lapses into sin.
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