...nothing is more dangerous than solitude: there our imagination, always disposed to rise, taking a new flight on the wings of fancy, pictures to us a chain of beings of whom we seem the most inferior. All things appear greater than they really are, and all seem superior to us. This operation of the mind is quite natural: we so continually feel our own imperfections, and fancy we perceive in others the qualities we do not possess, attributing to them also all that we enjoy ourselves, that by this process we form the idea of a perfect, happy man,a man, however, who only exists in our own imagination.
About This Quote
About Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a 18th-century German writer and polymath. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. Read more on Wikipedia →
Themes
- Happiness — Thoughts on finding joy, contentment, and fulfilment
- Imagination — The creative power of the mind and visionary thinking