Ich weiss weder dass Tag noch dass Nacht ist, und die ganze Welt verliert sich um mich her.
Behind me, field and meadow sleeping, I leave in deep, prophetic night, Within whose dread and holy keeping The better soul awakes to light. The wild desires no longer win us, The deeds of passion cease to chain; The love of Man revives within us, The love of God revives again.
Surrendering himself to the full possession of the spirit which shall speak through him, he receives, also, a portion of the same creative power.
Ah, when, within our narrow chamber The lamp with friendly lustre glows, Flames in the breast each faded ember, And in the heart, itself that knows. Then Hope again lends sweet assistance, And Reason then resumes her speech: One yearns, the rivers of existence, The very founts of Life, to reach.
A young man who is full of presentiments believes that he can account for much and discover even more in mysteries, and that he must work by means of mysteries.
Time and time again my eyes have been opened to what I am, but always too late and always to no purpose.
She could not help recalling the bustling which had attended Eduard’s celebration of her own birthday, she could not help thinking of the newly erected pavilion under whose roof they had promised themselves so much pleasure. The fireworks exploded again before her eyes and in her ears; the lonelier she was, the more she lived in imagination; yet the more she lived in imagination, the more alone she felt. She leaned upon his arm no more, and had no hope of ever being able to lean on it again.
With fairest images of dreams infold him, Plunge him in seas of sweet untruth! Yet, for the threshold’s magic which controlled him, The Devil needs a rat’s quick tooth.
I use no lengthened invocation: Here rustles one that soon will work my liberation.
The year is dying. The wind blows across the stubble and finds there is nothing left for it to shake. Only the red berries on their slender trees still seem to want to remind us of something merrier and the beat of the thresher awakens in us the thought of how much life and nourishment lies hidden in the cut-down ear of corn.
Siempre que tenga deseos y aspiraciones, el hombre puede equivocarse.
When Odysseus speaks of the measureless sea and the boundless earth, it is all so true and human, so inwardly and closely felt, and so mysterious. What use is it if I, like any schoolboy, can now parrot that the earth is round? Man needs only a small patch of earth for his pleasures, and a smaller one still to rest beneath.
The God, above my powers enthroned, He cannot change external forces. So, by the burden of my days oppressed, Death is desired, and Life a thing unblest!
Geheimnisse sind noch keine Wunder.
Specia umana se poarta pretutindeni la fel. Majoritatea oamenilor isi intrebuinteaza cea mai mare parte din timp ca sa traiasca si putina libertate care le mai ramane ii inspaimanta atat de tare, incat fac tot ce le sta in putinta ca sa scape de dansa. O, destin al omului!
Das Leben eines Menschen ist sein Charakter.
No one knows the extent of his powers unless he has tested them thoroughly.
Zarea e ca si viitorul! In fata sufletului nostru sta un tot urias si nelamurit in care simtirea noastra se pierde ca si privirea, iar noi dorim plini de ardoare sa ne lasam cuprinsi cu voluptate de un unic, mare si splendid sentiment. Si cand alergam intr-acolo, cand acolo devine aici, totul e la fel ca mai inainte si ne simtim saraci si marginiti, si sufletul nostru tanjeste dupa mangaierea care a pierit.
Only air and light and the love of friends! Let no man lose heart who still has these.
Children don’t know why they want what they want, teachers and judges are unanimous. But that adults, just like children, tumble about in the world without knowing where they come from and where they’re going – that they act in accordance with their avowed aims as little as children do – that they can be ruled by cookies and cakes and lashes just as easily as children – this no one wants to believe, though it seems to me so palpably true.