Great Throughts Treasury

"The artist belongs to his work, not the work to the artist. "

"A Realist is an Idealist who knows nothing of himself."

"Only so far as a man is happily married to himself, is he fit for married life to another, and for family life generally."

"Activity is the only reality."

"The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation is, to give a man a perfect knowledge and mastery of his own inner self."

"That fearsome to the merry tables strode, A wrapt the spirit there in wild fright. The gods themselves no counsel knew nor showed To fill the anxious hearts with comfort light. Mysterious was the monster's pathless road, Whose rage no prayer nor tribute could requite; 'Twas Death who broke the banquet up with fears, With anguish, dire pain, and bitter tears. Eternally from all things here disparted That sway the heart with pleasure's joyous flow, Divided from the loved ones who've departed, Tossed by longing vain, unceasing woe -- In a dull dream to struggle, faint and thwarted, Seemed all was granted to the dead below. Broke lay the merry wave of human bliss On Death's inevitable, rocky cliff. With daring spirit and a passion deep, Did man ameliorate the horrid blight, A gentle youth puts out his torch, to sleep -- The end, just like a harp's sigh, comes light. Cool shadow-floods o'er melting memory creep, So sang the song, into its sorry need. Still undeciphered lay the endless Night -- The solemn symbol of a far-off might. "

"The youth thou art who ages long hast stood Upon our graves, so deeply lost in thought; A sign of comfort in the dusky gloom For high humanity, a joyful start. What dropped us all into abyssmal woe, Pulls us forward with sweet yearning now. In everlasting life death found its goal, For thou art Death who at last makes us whole. "

"Over I journey And for each pain A pleasant sting only Shall one day remain. Yet in a few moments Then free am I, And intoxicated In Love's lap lie. Life everlasting Lifts, wave-like, at me, I gaze from its summit Down after thee. Your lustre must vanish Yon mound underneath -- A shadow will bring thee Thy cooling wreath. Oh draw at my heart, love, Draw till I'm gone, That, fallen asleep, I Still may love on. I feel the flow of Death's youth-giving flood To balsam and ether Transform my blood -- I live all the daytime In faith and in might And in holy fire I die every night. "

"Uplifted is the stone -- And all mankind is risen -- We all remain thine own. And vanished is our prison. All troubles flee away Thy golden bowl before, For Earth and Life give way At the last and final supper. To the marriage Death doth call -- The virgins standeth back -- The lamps burn lustrous all -- Of oil there is no lack -- If the distance would only fill With the sound of you walking alone And that the stars would call Us all with human tongues and tone. Unto thee, O Mary A thousand hearts aspire. In this life of shadows Thee only they desire. In thee they hope for delivery With visionary expectation -- If only thou, O holy being Could clasp them to thy breast. With bitter torment burning, So many who are consumed At last from this world turning To thee have looked and fled, Helpful thou hast appeared To so many in pain. Now to them we come, To never go out again. At no grave can weep Any who love and pray. The gift of Love they keep, From none can it be taken away. To soothe and quiet his longing, Night comes and inspires -- Heaven's children round him thronging Watch and guard his heart. Have courage, for life is striding To endless life along; Stretched by inner fire, Our sense becomes transfigured. One day the stars above Shall flow in golden wine, We will enjoy it all, And as stars we will shine. The love is given freely, And Separation is no more. The whole life heaves and surges Like a sea without a shore. Just one night of bliss -- One everlasting poem -- And the sun we all share Is the face of God. "

"Into the bosom of the earth, Out of the Light's dominion, Death's pains are but a bursting forth, Sign of glad departure. Swift in the narrow little boat, Swift to the heavenly shore we float. Blessed be the everlasting Night, And blessed the endless slumber. We are heated by the day too bright, And withered up with care. We're weary of a life abroad, And we now want our Father's home. What in this world should we all Do with love and with faith? That which is old is set aside, And the new may perish also. Alone he stands and sore downcast Who loves with pious warmth the Past. The Past where the light of the senses In lofty flames did rise; Where the Father's face and hand All men did recognize; And, with high sense, in simplicity Many still fit the original pattern. The Past wherein, still rich in bloom, Man's strain did burgeon glorious, And children, for the world to come, Sought pain and death victorious, And, through both life and pleasure spake, Yet many a heart for love did break. The Past, where to the flow of youth God still showed himself, And truly to an early death Did commit his sweet life. Fear and torture patiently he bore So that he would be loved forever. With anxious yearning now we see That Past in darkness drenched, With this world's water never we Shall find our hot thirst quenched. To our old home we have to go That blessed time again to know. What yet doth hinder our return To loved ones long reposed? Their grave limits our lives. We are all sad and afraid. We can search for nothing more -- The heart is full, the world is void. Infinite and mysterious, Thrills through us a sweet trembling -- As if from far there echoed thus A sigh, our grief resembling. Our loved ones yearn as well as we, And sent to us this longing breeze. Down to the sweet bride, and away To the beloved Jesus. Have courage, evening shades grow gray To those who love and grieve. A dream will dash our chains apart, And lay us in the Father's lap. "

"A child is a Cupid become visible."

"Accident is simply unforeseen order."

"A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer."

"A God-intoxicated man [ Spinoza]"

"All power appears only in transition. Permanent power is stuff."

"All the chance events of our lives are materials from which we can make what we like. Whoever is rich in spirit makes much of his life. Every acquaintance, every incident would be for the thoroughly spiritual person?the first element in an endless series?the beginning of an endless novel."

"Almost all genius up to now was one-sided?the result of a sickly constitution. One type had too much sense of the external, the other too much inner sense. Seldom could nature achieve a balance between the two?a complete constitution of genius. Often a perfect proportion arose by chance, but this could never endure because it was not comprehended and fixed by the spirit?they remained fortunate moments. The first genius that penetrated itself found here the exemplary germ of an immeasurable world. It made a discovery which must have been the most remarkable in the history of the world?for with it there begins a whole new epoch for humanity?and true history of all kinds becomes possible for the first time at this stage?for the way that had been traversed hitherto now makes up a proper whole that can be entirely elucidated. That point outside the world is given, and now Archimedes can fulfill his promise."

"Any man that thinks the truth will always find - no matter where you'll be and how will you go to work."

"Apprenticeship suits the novice poet ? academic study the novice philosopher."

"And now I awaken, for I am both yours and mine."

"Apparently, we go forward."

"Art is the perfection of our - of you in some way - according to an idea - to you and the fact it's the same thing here. Only through repeated practice our 'activity, it becomes more precise and vigorous art appears."

"Aside I turn to the holy, unspeakable, mysterious Night. Afar lies the world -- sunk in a deep grave -- waste and lonely is its place. In the chords of the bosom blows a deep sadness. I am ready to sink away in drops of dew, and mingle with the ashes. -- The distances of memory, the wishes of youth, the dreams of childhood, the brief joys and vain hopes of a whole long life, arise in gray garments, like an evening vapor after the sunset. In other regions the light has pitched its joyous tents. What if it should never return to its children, who wait for it with the faith of innocence?"

"Attentiveness is a centripetal force. The effective relation between that which is directed and the object of direction begins with the given direction. If we hold fast to this direction we are apodictically certain of reaching the goal that has been set. True collaboration in philosophy then is a common movement toward a beloved world?whereby we relieve each other in the most advanced outpost, a movement that demands the greatest effort against the resisting element within which we are flying."

"Before all the wondrous shows of the widespread space around him, what living, sentient thing loves not the all-joyous light -- with its colors, its rays and undulations, its gentle omnipresence in the form of the wakening Day? The giant-world of the unresting constellations inhales it as the innermost soul of life, and floats dancing in its blue flood -- the sparkling, ever-tranquil stone, the thoughtful, imbibing plant, and the wild, burning multiform beast inhales it -- but more than all, the lordly stranger with the sense-filled eyes, the swaying walk, and the sweetly closed, melodious lips. Like a king over earthly nature, it rouses every force to countless transformations, binds and unbinds innumerable alliances, hangs its heavenly form around every earthly substance. -- Its presence alone reveals the marvelous splendor of the kingdoms of the world."

"But even more heavenly than the flashing stars are those infinite eyes which the night opens within us, and which see further even than the palest of those innumerable hosts."

"Blessed is our language because it lacks flexibility - CES submits strong, weak is put it - in the first case is most obvious manifestation of force, more beautiful; in the second, most striking - and thus remains pure beauty realm, more noble and pure."

"Blood will stream over Europe until the nations become aware of the frightful madness which drives them in circles. And then, struck by celestial music and made gentle, the approach their former altars all together, hear about the works of peace, and hold a great celebration of peace with fervent tears before the smoking altars."

"Character and fate are two words for the same thing."

"Character is a perfectly educated will."

"Darwin remarks that we are less dazzled by the light at waking, if we have been dreaming of visible objects. Happy are those who have here dreamt of a higher vision! They will the sooner be able to endure the glories of the world to come."

"Common Logic is the Grammar of the higher Speech, that is, of Thought; it examines merely the relations of ideas to one another, the Mechanics of Thought, the pure Physiology of ideas. Now logical ideas stand related to one another, like words without thoughts. Logic occupies itself with the mere dead Body of the Science of Thinking. ? Metaphysics, again, is the Dynamics of Thought; treats of the primary Powers of Thought; occupies itself with the mere Soul of the Science of Thinking. Metaphysical ideas stand related to one another, like thoughts without words. Men often wondered at the stubborn incompletibility of these two Sciences; each followed its own business by itself; there was a want everywhere, nothing would suit rightly with either. From the very first, attempts were made to unite them, as everything about them indicated relationship; but every attempt failed; the one or the other Science still suffered in these attempts, and lost its essential character. We had to abide by metaphysical Logic, and logical Metaphysic, but neither of them was as it should be."

"Death is a victory over the self ? which, like all self-conquest, brings about a new, easier existence."

"Despite listen to the same tales ever experienced anything like the others did."

"Denotation by means of sounds and markings is a remarkable abstraction. Three letters designate God for me; several lines a million things. How easy becomes the manipulation of the universe here, how evident the concentration of the intellectual world! Language is the dynamics of the spiritual realm. One word of command moves armies; the word Liberty entire nations."

"Doing philosophy is only a threefold or double kind of waking--being awake--consciousness."

"Every individual is the center of a system of emanation."

"Every disease can be called soul sickness."

"Filled with joy, the singer went on to Hindustan -- his heart intoxicated with the sweetest love; and poured it out in fiery songs under the balmy sky, so that a thousand hearts bowed to him, and the good news sprang up with a thousand branches. Soon after the singer's departure, his precious life was made a sacrifice for the deep fall of man -- He died in his youth, torn away from his beloved world, from his weeping mother, and his trembling friends. His lovely mouth emptied the dark cup of unspeakable woes -- in ghastly fear the birth of the new world drew near. Hard he wrestled with the terrors of old Death -- Heavy lay the weight of the old world upon him. Yet once more he looked fondly at his mother -- then came the releasing hand of eternal love, and he fell asleep. Only a few days hung a deep veil over the roaring sea, over the quaking land -- countless tears wept his loved ones -- the mystery was unsealed -- heavenly spirits heaved the ancient stone from the gloomy grave. Angels sat by the Sleeper -- delicately shaped from his dreams -- awoken in new Godlike glory; he clomb the limits of the new-born world -- buried with his own hand the old corpse in the abandoned hollow, and with a hand almighty laid upon it a stone which no power shall ever again upheave."

"Friends, the soil is poor, we must sow seeds in plenty for us to garner even modest harvests."

"Everything is seed."

"Everything that we experience is a communication. In fact, so is the world too a communication -- the revelation of spirit. The time is gone when the spirit of God was comprehensible to us. The meaning of the world has been lost to us. We have seen only its letters. We have lost that which is appearing behind the appearance."

"Everything is good, but not everywhere, but not always, but not for everyone."

"Every stage of education begins with childhood. That is why the most educated person on earth so much resembles a child."

"Genius in general is poetic. Where genius has been active it has been poetically active. The truly moral person is a poet."

"From the I am starts down the road of evil and the good up."

"Flight from the communal spirit is death!"

"Friendship, love, and piety ought to be handled with a sort of mysterious secrecy; they ought to be spoken of only in the rare moments of perfect confidence, to be mutually understood in silence. Many things are too delicate to be thought; many more, to be spoken."

"Genius is the ability to matters of interest fiction and facts and processed."

"Goethe is an altogether practical Poet. He is in his works what the English are in their wares: highly simple, neat, convenient and durable. He has done in German Literature what Wedgwood did in English Manufacture. He has, like the English, a natural turn for Economy, and a noble Taste acquired by Understanding. Both these are very compatible, and have a near affinity in the chemical sense."