Goethe | Whoever wants to deceive people
"Whoever wants to deceive people must first of all make absurdity plausible."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | It may be boldly asked
"It may be boldly asked where can the man be found, possessing the extraordinary gifts of Newton, who could suffer himself to be deluded by such a hocus-pocus, if he had not in the first instance willfully deceived himself? Only those who know the strength of self-deception, and the extent to which it sometimes trenches on dishonesty, are in a condition to explain the conduct of Newton and of Newton’s school. To support his unnatural theory Newton heaps fiction upon fiction, seeking to dazzle where he cannot convince. In whatever way or manner may have occurred this business, I must still say that I curse this modern theory of Cosmogony, and hope that perchance there may appear, in due time, some young scientist of genius, who will pick up courage enough to upset this universally disseminated delirium of lunatics."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | The most powerful figment of the imagination is public opinion
"The most powerful figment of the imagination is public opinion: no one knows exactly who makes it, no one has ever met it personally, but everyone lets themselves be tyrannized by it!"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Nothing is more disgusting than the majority
"Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe