Quotations and Literature Forum

"we do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe" - johann von goethe

I don't believe for one second that Goethe ever said or wrote that.
It is "unsourced".
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Goethe

umm actually he did and its even in your webiste that you have, so look harder and ull find it..its under the W's

Yes, it is there (it's not mine; I just seem to be a prisoner of a sort).
You asked for help with this quotation, and I am merely stating that I don't believe he ever wrote or said it. Most authentic quotations are not too hard to source, and apparently people have looked at this one and concluded that it is an unsourced quotation attributed to Goethe; I have updated it with a notation to that effect.
I actually spent a bit of time on it before replying, because I do like it, but am unable to be of any help on it. Phaedrus has a pretty good collection of resource material, maybe he will look into it.

The world is so full of simpletons and madmen that one need not seek them in a madhouse~Goethe, Conversations with Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann, 17 March 1830.

You never cease to amaze me.