Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, poet, novelist, actor, scientist, geologist, botanist and philosopher. As a young boy, he wrote stories and plays and learned Greek, Latin, and French. He studied law in Leipzig and Strasbourg and later collected folk poetry with a poet named Herder.

At the age of 25, he wrote The Sufferings of Young Werther which was very successful all over Europe and inspired many young men. He also wrote a long play called Faust about a man who is promised happiness by the devil if he signs a pact with his own blood.

Goethe spent most of life working for a Duke called Karl August and studying geology, mineralogy, botany and anatomy. He went on two trips to Italy and wrote a play called Iphigenie auf Tauris combining the beauty of Classicism with great poetry. He was friends with famous poet Friedrich Schiller and they shared many ideas and helped each other with their works.

Goethe's most famous work is Faust which he worked on for most of his lifetime. He wrote Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (an education novel) and Die Wahlverwandtschaften (about divorce). His last book was Westöstlicher Divan which uses ideas from Persia and other Eastern countries. Goethe died in 1832 and left behind a big impact on European literature.

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own.

Maxims and Reflections. in "Poems of Goethe" (1853), translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring