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Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings (Little Black Classics) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
'I can promise to be candid, not, however, to be impartial.'
A selection of the most insightful maxims and reflections from one of Germany's greatest ever thinkers.
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
Goethe's works available in Penguin Classics are Faust, Part I, Faust, Part II, Maxims and Reflections, Elective Affinities, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Selected Poetry and Italian Journey 1786-1788.
A selection of the most insightful maxims and reflections from one of Germany's greatest ever thinkers.
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
Goethe's works available in Penguin Classics are Faust, Part I, Faust, Part II, Maxims and Reflections, Elective Affinities, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Selected Poetry and Italian Journey 1786-1788.
Mass Market Paperback
First published February 26, 2015
34 people are currently reading
1339 people want to read
About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13.4k books7,000 followersA master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem
Faust
, published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
February 13, 2016
The title of this edition pretty much summarises my review.
The quotes are vague and without context, so they are sketchy; they are short and without evidence, so they are doubtful. In this, they are incomplete and completely random. There is no common theme or overall message to be gained from them; they are singular and isolated. Each one could be read without any knowledge of the others. All in all, there’s very little to gain from reading any of them.
Moreover, an edition that is merely a series of quotes isn’t very fun to read. Most of them are just pointless. There’s no information or substance to each quote and they follow each other in, what felt like, an endless chain of pointlessness. Very few of them stood out, and because of the sheer quantity in here most of them are almost instantly forgotten upon reading. I hate books like this; they just have no purpose without context.
I’d completely avoid this one, unless your already familiar with Goethe, because this a terrible introduction to him.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 36
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
The quotes are vague and without context, so they are sketchy; they are short and without evidence, so they are doubtful. In this, they are incomplete and completely random. There is no common theme or overall message to be gained from them; they are singular and isolated. Each one could be read without any knowledge of the others. All in all, there’s very little to gain from reading any of them.
Moreover, an edition that is merely a series of quotes isn’t very fun to read. Most of them are just pointless. There’s no information or substance to each quote and they follow each other in, what felt like, an endless chain of pointlessness. Very few of them stood out, and because of the sheer quantity in here most of them are almost instantly forgotten upon reading. I hate books like this; they just have no purpose without context.
I’d completely avoid this one, unless your already familiar with Goethe, because this a terrible introduction to him.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 36
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
May 20, 2020
We all live on the past and perish by the past.
I can promise to be candid, not, however, to be impartial.
Where concern is lost, memory fares likewise.
If one had to study all laws, one would have no time at all to transgress them.
It's really a person's mistakes that make him endearing.
We may get to know the world however we choose, it will always keep a day and night aspect.
We like to rate Antiquity higher than ourselves, but not posterity. It's only a father who doesn't envy a son's talent.
Mastery is often seen as egoism.
Three things are not recognized except in the due course of time:
a hero in wartime,
a wise man in a rage,
a friend in need.
I can promise to be candid, not, however, to be impartial.
Where concern is lost, memory fares likewise.
If one had to study all laws, one would have no time at all to transgress them.
It's really a person's mistakes that make him endearing.
We may get to know the world however we choose, it will always keep a day and night aspect.
We like to rate Antiquity higher than ourselves, but not posterity. It's only a father who doesn't envy a son's talent.
Mastery is often seen as egoism.
Three things are not recognized except in the due course of time:
a hero in wartime,
a wise man in a rage,
a friend in need.
January 22, 2019
Has there ever been a publication with a less appealing title? It does unfortunately summarize the content of this book rather well though. It feels a bit as if the publishers were keen to test if the name Johann Wolfgang von Goethe alone is enough to make people buy this.
Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings are indeed fifty pages of random thoughts and claims, mostly without any context, examples or evidence. I've just opened that damn thing to give you an example:
"There are people who love and seek out those like themselves, and then again, those who love and pursue their opposites."
Yeah. Cool. Sure. So what? Mind me, I am not throwing shade on Goethe himself, whose importance and influence needs no justification. If you are desperate for every word that man has ever written down, his musings on self-deceit, superstition, art and ambition might be of interest, but if you don't have that keen a fangirl in you, I wouldn't recommend it. There's just nothing to gain from it.
In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings are indeed fifty pages of random thoughts and claims, mostly without any context, examples or evidence. I've just opened that damn thing to give you an example:
"There are people who love and seek out those like themselves, and then again, those who love and pursue their opposites."
Yeah. Cool. Sure. So what? Mind me, I am not throwing shade on Goethe himself, whose importance and influence needs no justification. If you are desperate for every word that man has ever written down, his musings on self-deceit, superstition, art and ambition might be of interest, but if you don't have that keen a fangirl in you, I wouldn't recommend it. There's just nothing to gain from it.
In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
August 29, 2018
"A collection of anecdotes and maxims is the greatest treasure for a man in the world - as long as he knows how to weave the former into apposite points of the course of conversation, and to recall the latter on fitting occasions."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings
Vol N° 36 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This short collection is a reduction of another collection of Goethe's maxims and reflections, called (obviously) Maxims and Reflections.
Goethe's maxims read like a soft, distracted Nietzche inclined towards art, philosophy, superstition, character, and ambition. Maxims are the bumper stickers of philosophy. They can be read individually, but often, when read as a whole the gaps between the philosopher's proverbs begin to disappear. The problem with reading just aa selection of anyone's maxims is they seem able to exist independently, but like fungi or aspen, are actually connected together. I feel a bit like there are large gaps (obviously) because this is just a selection from 'Maxims and Reflections.'
That being said, here are a few of my favorites (a selection of a selection aka a minimum of maxims):
"It is really a person's mistakes that make him endearing."
"As soon as the ideal makes a demand on the real, it in the end consumes it and also itself. Thus credit (paper money) consumes silver and its own self."
"Tell me with whom you consort and I will tell you who you are; if I know how you spend your time, then I know what might become of you."
"Absolute activity, of whatever kind, utimately leads to bankruptcy."
"A great failing: to see yourelf as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings
Vol N° 36 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This short collection is a reduction of another collection of Goethe's maxims and reflections, called (obviously) Maxims and Reflections.
Goethe's maxims read like a soft, distracted Nietzche inclined towards art, philosophy, superstition, character, and ambition. Maxims are the bumper stickers of philosophy. They can be read individually, but often, when read as a whole the gaps between the philosopher's proverbs begin to disappear. The problem with reading just aa selection of anyone's maxims is they seem able to exist independently, but like fungi or aspen, are actually connected together. I feel a bit like there are large gaps (obviously) because this is just a selection from 'Maxims and Reflections.'
That being said, here are a few of my favorites (a selection of a selection aka a minimum of maxims):
"It is really a person's mistakes that make him endearing."
"As soon as the ideal makes a demand on the real, it in the end consumes it and also itself. Thus credit (paper money) consumes silver and its own self."
"Tell me with whom you consort and I will tell you who you are; if I know how you spend your time, then I know what might become of you."
"Absolute activity, of whatever kind, utimately leads to bankruptcy."
"A great failing: to see yourelf as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth."
July 16, 2025
this is the kind of book that you would highlight and keep and go back to for its intellectual advice and quotes, its like having Goethe’s- a wise man’s brain in one notebook.
I finished this in a french japanese cafe in Podium called Cafe Kitsune, with a hot matcha and a yummy tangy lemon meringue.
I am passing it on to my book friend Patty 💕😊
I finished this in a french japanese cafe in Podium called Cafe Kitsune, with a hot matcha and a yummy tangy lemon meringue.
I am passing it on to my book friend Patty 💕😊
March 12, 2015
This book, full of random thoughts, made me interested in reading more of Goethe's works.
Goethe managed to put into words ideas that I've come up with but didn't know how to properly articulate.
Goethe managed to put into words ideas that I've come up with but didn't know how to properly articulate.
July 26, 2020
Read all my reviews on https://urlphantomhive.wordpress.com
There's not more to it than the title suggests.
So, I can also be short in my review. I didn't like it at all.
~Little Black Classics #36~
There's not more to it than the title suggests.
So, I can also be short in my review. I didn't like it at all.
~Little Black Classics #36~
March 16, 2023
Why does this book even exist?
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February 4, 2017
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was in a 19th Century German philosopher, poet and statesman.
Many philosophers sound pretentious. It's pretty much in the job description, but most of them have a way with words which makes what they say seem wonderful. Goethe is not one of these. His musings are droll, dry and deceptive. He waffles on when not wanted, and when needed he moves on. He speaks of things that don't matter in a way that makes it sound as it they are the greatest things in the world. He is, in a word, boring, though there were a handful of thoughts that made me think.
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Many philosophers sound pretentious. It's pretty much in the job description, but most of them have a way with words which makes what they say seem wonderful. Goethe is not one of these. His musings are droll, dry and deceptive. He waffles on when not wanted, and when needed he moves on. He speaks of things that don't matter in a way that makes it sound as it they are the greatest things in the world. He is, in a word, boring, though there were a handful of thoughts that made me think.
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May 14, 2016
Good lord this is awful. What we have is a collection of extracts from his works that now have no meaning or context. A tedious collection that would make one think that Goethe is a simpleton, an inept writer of no standing. This book would not inspire me to read more. Goethe is a writer of thought and clarity.
AVOID THIS AND BUY ONE OF HIS COMPLETE WORKS.
AVOID THIS AND BUY ONE OF HIS COMPLETE WORKS.
October 5, 2021
Love this kind of insight into a genius’s insights that have not been all that actively thought out. Shows to his lucidity, but also to his sheer humanity. It’s humbling, really!
July 3, 2017
I really enjoy some Goethe, so I was looking forward to this and thought the worst would be weird translation vibes, but no. I just found myself asking: What is the point of this book?
It's literally only really short passages, some no more than one sentences, thrown together without any context. Part head-skretcher (possibly because some sentences just make no sense without context!), part idiotic musings and remarks and part "no shit, Sherlock."
I can't think of anyone who'd enjoy this apart from a Goethe scholar maybe, but surely they'd just read the German original "sketches".
It's literally only really short passages, some no more than one sentences, thrown together without any context. Part head-skretcher (possibly because some sentences just make no sense without context!), part idiotic musings and remarks and part "no shit, Sherlock."
I can't think of anyone who'd enjoy this apart from a Goethe scholar maybe, but surely they'd just read the German original "sketches".
September 21, 2023
Me to the table of Germans next to me when Goethe said "the Germans know how to correct, but not how to give supportive help": 👀🤨🧐🤔
October 17, 2017
So this is definitely a keeper, as it contains thoughts and aphorisms by Johann von Goethe, with regards to art, humanity, life, the universe and everything (as another well-loved writer would say). There are things one will agree or disagree with but nothing Goethe wrote some 200 years ago seems irrelevant or out of context.
There is, amazingly enough, a piece on oversharing and the decline of personal reflection, long, looong before facebook, snapchat, instagram or what-have-you. I think he would be appalled at the state of our era.
In here you will find words to live by and words to ponder, but above all, you will find words you need to revisit.
There is, amazingly enough, a piece on oversharing and the decline of personal reflection, long, looong before facebook, snapchat, instagram or what-have-you. I think he would be appalled at the state of our era.
In here you will find words to live by and words to ponder, but above all, you will find words you need to revisit.
August 1, 2025
Some bars in here. Pretty vague bars, but bars nonetheless.
July 27, 2022
as you can guess, from the title itself…
this is like collection of half-baked insight Goethe have and some of them, are solid and just hit right to the point!
some opened up to another idea of you starting to agree and wanting yourself to be entertained more of the particular topic
some felt like..’oh, okay, this is like reminder for him, I guess’
but overall, it’s a worthy read for me and I definitely love his insight
this is like collection of half-baked insight Goethe have and some of them, are solid and just hit right to the point!
some opened up to another idea of you starting to agree and wanting yourself to be entertained more of the particular topic
some felt like..’oh, okay, this is like reminder for him, I guess’
but overall, it’s a worthy read for me and I definitely love his insight
April 20, 2019
Musings
- "It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; the former lies on the surface, this is quite manageable; the latter resides in depth, and this quest is not everyone's business."
- "We all live on the past and perish by the past."
- "Where concern is lost, memory fares likewise."
- "No intelligent man experiences a minor stupidity."
- "It's really a person's mistakes that make him endearing."
- "Our whole achievement is to give up our existence in order to exist."
- "Mastery is often seen as egoism."
- "In the works of man as in those of nature, what most deserves notice is his intention."
- "Botanists have a plant-category which they call 'Incompletae'; similarly one can say that there are incomplete and uncompleted people. These are the ones whose longings and strivings are out of proportion with what they actually do and what they achieve."
- "A great failing: to see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth."
- "Idiosyncrasy calls forth idiosyncrasy."
- "If I'm to listen to someone else's opinion, it must be put in a positive way; I have enough problematic speculations in my own head."
- "The most mediocre novel is still better than mediocre readers, indeed the worst novel still participates in some way in excellence of the genre as a whole."
- "It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; the former lies on the surface, this is quite manageable; the latter resides in depth, and this quest is not everyone's business."
- "We all live on the past and perish by the past."
- "Where concern is lost, memory fares likewise."
- "No intelligent man experiences a minor stupidity."
- "It's really a person's mistakes that make him endearing."
- "Our whole achievement is to give up our existence in order to exist."
- "Mastery is often seen as egoism."
- "In the works of man as in those of nature, what most deserves notice is his intention."
- "Botanists have a plant-category which they call 'Incompletae'; similarly one can say that there are incomplete and uncompleted people. These are the ones whose longings and strivings are out of proportion with what they actually do and what they achieve."
- "A great failing: to see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth."
- "Idiosyncrasy calls forth idiosyncrasy."
- "If I'm to listen to someone else's opinion, it must be put in a positive way; I have enough problematic speculations in my own head."
- "The most mediocre novel is still better than mediocre readers, indeed the worst novel still participates in some way in excellence of the genre as a whole."
January 24, 2022
In "Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings", Goethe makes sketchy remarks on the purpose of existence, shares doubtful opinions on art, history and literature, and pens incomplete jottings on people's natures. While some of his jottings had depth and much insight, some reminded me of generic captions I used to take from this website called livelifehappy.com or something back in 2014. I mean "Intelligent people are always the best encyclopaedia." ??? lowkey cringe
In conclusion, I just know Goethe would have LOVED posting statuses on Facebook.
In conclusion, I just know Goethe would have LOVED posting statuses on Facebook.
May 19, 2022
i couldn’t decide to give this a 2 or a 3, because even though some of these jottings include the most self-important, misogynistic, and privileged statements, it was nonetheless entertaining. and a couple of the notes hit home, and I admittedly dogeared them. i just don’t know if I’m a Goethe Girly
April 22, 2025
3.5
Took me about 5 pages to realise these are just irregularly copied maxims from the ‘Maximen und Reflexionen’ that are awfully put together in a bad layout, making it unnecessary complicated to follow, though the title warns for it to be incomplete jottings.
inconsistent yet intriguing
Took me about 5 pages to realise these are just irregularly copied maxims from the ‘Maximen und Reflexionen’ that are awfully put together in a bad layout, making it unnecessary complicated to follow, though the title warns for it to be incomplete jottings.
inconsistent yet intriguing
August 31, 2017
Can't say I entirely agree with everything he says, but it was an interesting read and it does inspire thinking.
February 15, 2022
An excellent short book with so much wisdom in it. I enjoy every read of it, to the fact I started to highlight things in its superb book filled with joy and knowledge
April 5, 2023
"One should not wish anyone disagreeable conditions of life; but for him who is involved in them by chance, they are touchstones of character and of the most value to man."
December 7, 2023
bro wasn't wrong when he titled this thing
December 7, 2023
goethe you sly dog we meet again, thankfully with brevity
January 21, 2026
I’m not big on the arts and I disagree with some of the things he says. I think some of them are just pointing out the obvious. I don’t love the way he says them either.
March 23, 2025
I’ve never read Goethe before, so it was a nice introduction to him and some silly things he thinks about. He has some very boring and some very stupid ideas sometimes about art but he has a very beautiful yet severe and lawful view about life. A lot of his jottings feel like Millennial inspirational quotes but some are very thoughtful and struck chords in me.
November 30, 2024
Interecting but everything is taken out of context, which makes this collection of thoughts quite truthful to its title but also quite underwhelming.
Some of my faourites:
You can neither protect or defend yourself against criticism; you have to act in defiance of it and this is gradually accepted.
It is really a person's mistakes that make him endearing.
Absolute activity, of whatever kind, ultimately leads to bankrupcy.
A great failing: to see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth.
Some of my faourites:
You can neither protect or defend yourself against criticism; you have to act in defiance of it and this is gradually accepted.
It is really a person's mistakes that make him endearing.
Absolute activity, of whatever kind, ultimately leads to bankrupcy.
A great failing: to see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews