Quotations

Remarks poets made beyond their poems — letters, journals, conversation — gathered as a readable library. Browse by topic or author, or search the words themselves. Currently 7,145 active remarks.

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Topic: Experience

Showing 24 of 117 · page 3 of 5

“A person who has lived for a long time amid important circumstances will not encounter everything that can happen to a human being, but will encounter its equivalents.”

Original: Wer lange in bedeutenden Verhältnissen lebt, dem begegnet freilich nicht alles was dem Menschen begegnen kann; aber doch das Analoge, und vielleicht einiges was ohne Beispiel war. — Long experience cannot encompass everything, but it provides patterns by which unfamiliar events can be understood. · Wilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years (German)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is not enough to have talent. More is needed to become intelligent: one must live amid significant circumstances and see the forces of one's time at work.”

Original: Es ist nicht genug, daß man Talent habe. Es gehört mehr dazu, um gescheit zu werden. Man muß auch in großen Verhältnissen leben und Gelegenheit haben, den spielenden Figuren der Zeit in die Karten zu sehen und selber zu Gewinn und Verlust mitzuspielen. — Talent develops through experience of the wider world and active participation in its affairs. · Conversations with Johann Peter Eckermann (German)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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