# Quote — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections

> I'm sorry for people who make a great to-do about the transitory nature of things and get lost in meditations of earthly nothingness. Surely we are here precisely so as to turn what passes into something that endures; but this is possible only if you can appreciate both.

- Author: [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe.md)
- Book: [Maxims and Reflections](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections.md)
- Original (de): Ich bedauere die Menschen, welche von der Vergänglichkeit der Dinge viel Wesens machen und sich in Betrachtung irdischer Nichtigkeit verlieren. Sind wir ja eben deßhalb da, um das Vergängliche unvergänglich zu machen; das kann ja nur dadurch geschehen, wenn man beides zu schätzen weiß.
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe#Maxims_and_Reflections_(1833)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections/im-sorry-for

## More from this book

> What is Classical is healthy; what is Romantic is sick.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections/what-is-classical.md)

> The person engaged in action is always unconscionable; no one except the contemplative has a conscience.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections/the-person-engaged.md)

> Everything is simpler than one can imagine, at the same time more involved than can be comprehended.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections/everything-is-simpler.md)