# Quote — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections

> You often say to yourself in the course of your life that you ought to avoid having too much business, 'polypragmosyne' [incessant activity], and, more especially, that the older you get, the more you ought to avoid entering on new business. But it's all very well saying this, and giving yourself andothers good advice. The very fact of growing older means taking up a new business; all our circumstances change, and we must either stop doing anything at all or else willing and consciously take on the new role we have to play on life's stage.

- 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/you-often-say

## 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)