# Quote — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections

> The desire to explain what is simple by what is complex, what is easy by what is difficult, is a calamity affecting the whole body of science, known, it is true, to men of insight, but not generally admitted.

- 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)
- 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/the-desire-to-explain

## 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)