QuotesCosmos
Attributed to Goethe by popular British novelist Marie Corelli in her essay "The Spirit of Work" as published in The Queen's Christmas carol : an anthology of poems, stories, essays, drawings and music / by British authors, artists and composers in 1905 by The Daily Mail of London.
• Attributed to Goethe by William Hutchinson Murray, in his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951), this has been shown to be a misattribution at "German Myth 12: The Famous 'Goethe' Quotation", Answer.com and "Popular Quotes: Commitment", Goethe Society of North America
• However, perhaps it has not been misattrbuted after all: in John Anster's 1867 translation of Faust (Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1867), we find the following on p14:
Lose this day loitering - 'twill be the same story Tomorrow - the next more dilatory, Then indecision brings its own delays And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days, Are you in earnest? seize this very minute - What you can do, or dream you can, begin it, Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated - Begin it and the work will be completed
“

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." in the context of "Attributed to Goethe by popular British novelist Marie Corelli in her essay "The Spirit of Work" as published in The Queen's Christmas carol : an anthology of poems, stories, essays, drawings and music / by British authors, artists and composers in 1905 by The Daily Mail of London.
• Attributed to Goethe by William Hutchinson Murray, in his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951), this has been shown to be a misattribution at "German Myth 12: The Famous 'Goethe' Quotation", Answer.com and "Popular Quotes: Commitment", Goethe Society of North America
• However, perhaps it has not been misattrbuted after all: in John Anster's 1867 translation of Faust (Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1867), we find the following on p14:

Lose this day loitering - 'twill be the same story Tomorrow - the next more dilatory, Then indecision brings its own delays And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days, Are you in earnest? seize this very minute - What you can do, or dream you can, begin it, Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated - Begin it and the work will be completed
" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe" (Misattributed) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Johann Wolfgang von Goethe#begin#whatever#boldness#genius#dream#power#magic
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

About Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,