Great Throughts Treasury

"Happy those who here on earth have dreamt of a higher vision! They will the sooner be able to endure the glories of the world to come."

"He who has tasted it, who has stood at the watershed of this world and looked across into the new land, into the dwelling of the night ? truly, he will never return to the labors of the world, to the land where the light is housed in ceaseless unrest."

"Holy sleep, do not so seldom bring happiness to the night?s beloved in this earthly labor of the day."

"How can a person have a sense of something if he does not have the germ of it within himself. What I am to understand must develop organically within me--and what I seem to learn is only nourishment--stimulation of the organism."

"Humanity is a comic role."

"I do not know but it seems to me, I saw two ways to the science of human history to reach. The one, tedious with countless bends, the way of experience; the other, almost a jump only, the path of inner contemplation. The Wanderer of the first must find one from the other in a lengthy statement when the other is the nature of every event and everything equal to directly look at them, and consider them in their vibrant, diverse connection, and easily accessible by all others, like figures on a blackboard can compare."

"I often feel, and ever more deeply I realize, that fate and character are the same conception."

"Humanity is the higher meaning of our planet, the nerve that connects this part of it with the upper world, the eye it raises to heaven."

"I trust that a graduate student someday will write a doctoral essay on the influence of the Munich analogy on the subsequent history of the twentieth century. Perhaps in the end he will conclude that the multitude of errors committed in the name of Munich may exceed the original error of 1938."

"I show that I have understood a writer only when I can act in his spirit, when, without constricting his individuality, I can translate him and change him in diverse ways."

"If on the one hand the Scholastics and Alchemists seem to be utterly at variance, and the Eclectics on the other hand quite at one, yet, strictly examined, it is altogether the reverse. The former, in essentials, are indirectly of one opinion; namely, as regards the non-dependence, and infinite character of Meditation, they both set out from the Absolute: whilst the Eclectic and limited sort are essentially at variance; and agree only in what is deduced. The former are infinite but uniform, the latter bounded but multiform; the former have genius, the latter talent; those have Ideas, these have knacks (Handgriffe); those are heads without hands, these are hands without heads. The third stage is for the Artist, who can be at once implement and genius. He finds that that primitive Separation in the absolute Philosophical Activities' (between the Scholastic, and the "rude, intuitive Poet") 'is a deeper-lying Separation in his own Nature; which Separation indicates, by its existence as such, the possibility of being adjusted, of being joined: he finds that, heterogeneous as these Activities are, there is yet a faculty in him of passing from the one to the other, of changing his polarity at will. He discovers in them, therefore, necessary members of his spirit; he observes that both must be united in some common Principle. He infers that Eclecticism is nothing but the imperfect defective employment of this principle."

"I shall in no time forget that moment. We felt as if we had had in our souls a clear passing glimpse into this wondrous World. Long, unwearied intercourse, free and wise Contemplation, attention to faint tokens and indications; an inward poet-life, practiced senses, a simple and devout spirit: these are the essential requisites of a true Friend of Nature"

"I was still blind, but twinkling stars did dance throughout my being's limitless expanse, nothing had yet drawn close, only at distant stages I found myself, a mere suggestion sensed in past and future ages."

"I turn away from the light to the holy, inexpressible, mysterious night. Far away lies the world ? sunk into a deep vault, its place waste and lonely. Across my heart strings a low melancholy plays. I will fall in drops of dew and merge with the ashes. Distant memories, the wishes of youth, the dreams of childhood, the brief joys and vain hopes of a long life ? all arise dressed in grey, like evening mist after sunset. In other lands light has pitched its merry tents. And if it never returned to its children, who would await its dawning with the innocence of faith?"

"In cheerful souls there is no evil; wit shows a disturbance of the equipoise."

"In most religious systems we are regarded as parts of the godhead which, if they do not obey the impulses of the whole, and even if they do not intentionally act against the laws of the whole, but only go their own way and do not want to be parts of it, are medically treated by the godhead?and either endure a painful cure or even are cut off."

"If our Bodily Life is a burning, our Spiritual Life is a being burnt, a Combustion (or, is precisely the inverse the case?); Death, therefore, perhaps a Change of Capacity."

"If the world is a precipitation of human nature, so to speak, then the divine world is a sublimation of the same. Both occur in one act. No precipitation without sublimation. What goes lost there in agility, is won here."

"In a work of art, chaos must shimmer through the veil of order."

"In an ever get this - he lifted the veil of the goddess of Sais - but just see? - See - wonder of wonders yourself."

"Innocence and ignorance are sisters. But there are noble and vulgar sisters. Vulgar innocence and ignorance are mortal, they have pretty faces, but wholly without expression, and of a transient beauty; the noble sisters are immortal, their lofty forms are unchangeable, and their countenances are still radiant with the light of paradise. They dwell in heaven, and visit only the noblest and most severely tried of mankind."

"In ancient times, over the widespread families of men an iron Fate ruled with dumb force. A gloomy oppression swathed their heavy souls -- the earth was boundless -- the abode of the gods and their home. From eternal ages stood its mysterious structure. Beyond the red hills of the morning, in the sacred bosom of the sea, dwelt the sun, the all-enkindling, living Light. An aged giant upbore the blissful world. Fast beneath mountains lay the first-born sons of mother Earth. Helpless in their destroying fury against the new, glorious race of gods, and their kindred, glad-hearted men. The ocean's dark green abyss was the lap of a goddess. In crystal grottos reveled a luxuriant folk. Rivers, trees, flowers, and beasts had human wits. Sweeter tasted the wine -- poured out by Youth-abundance -- a god in the grape-clusters -- a loving, motherly goddess upgrew in the full golden sheaves -- love's sacred inebriation was a sweet worship of the fairest of the god-ladies -- Life rustled through the centuries like one spring-time, an ever-variegated festival of heaven-children and earth-dwellers. All races childlike adored the ethereal, thousand-fold flame as the one sublimest thing in the world. There was but one notion, a horrible dream-shape."

"In the earliest times of the discovery of the faculty of judgment, every new judgment was a find. The worth of this find rose, the more practical and fertile the judgment was. Verdicts which now seem to us very common then still demanded an unusual level of intellectual life. One had to bring genius and acuity together in order to find new relations using the new tool. Its application to the most characteristic, interesting, and general aspects of humanity necessarily aroused exceptional admiration and drew the attention of all good minds to itself. In this way those bodies of proverbial sayings came into being that have been valued so highly at all times and among all peoples. It would easily be possible for the discoveries of genius we make today to meet with a similar fate in the course of time. There could easily come a time when all that would be as common as moral precepts are now, and new, more sublime discoveries would occupy the restless spirit of men."

"Is it body and soul in any particular way separate - and not a sign of weakness that afec?iunea one is also the condition of the other - without interference of the will?"

"Laws are necessary consequences of imperfect knowledge or thinking."

"Life is the beginning of death. Life is for the sake of death. Death is at once the end and the beginning ? at once separation and closer union of the self. Through death the reduction is complete. The more poetic, the more real. This is the core of my philosophy."

"Light had its allotted time; but timeless and infinite is the reign of the night ? the duration of sleep eternal."

"Longing for Death down into the womb of the earth, out of the kingdom of light, anger, pain, and a savage blow signal the happy departure."

"Is not belief the true God-announcing miracle?"

"It depends only on the weakness of our organs and of our self-excitement (Selbstberuhrung), that we do not see ourselves in a Fairy-world. All Fabulous Tales (Mahrchen) are merely dreams of that home world, which is everywhere and nowhere. The higher powers in us, which one day as Genies, shall fulfil our will, are, for the present, Muses, which refresh us on our toilsome course with sweet remembrances. Man consists in Truth. If he exposes Truth, he exposes himself. If he betrays Truth, he betrays himself."

"Is not our body in itself nothing but a common central effect of our senses?if we have mastery over our senses?if we are able to transform them into activity at will?to center them at a common point, then it only depends on us?to give ourselves the body we want. Indeed, in our senses are nothing other than modifications of the mental organ?of the absolute element?then with mastery over this element we shall also be able to modify and direct our senses as we please."

"It is a fair and holy office to be a prophet of Nature."

"It is certain my belief gains quite infinitely the very moment I can convince another mind thereof."

"It is the most capricious prejudice to believe that a human being is denied the capacity to be outside himself, to be consciously beyond the senses. He is capable at any moment of being a supra-sensual being. Without this he would not be a citizen of the world?he would be an animal. It is true that under these circumstances reflection, the discovery of oneself?is very difficult, since they are so ceaselessly, so necessarily connected with the change in our other circumstances. But the more conscious of these circumstances we can be, the more lively, powerful, and ample is the conviction which derives from them?the belief in true revelations of the spirit. It is not seeing?hearing?feeling?it is a combination of all three?more than all three?a sensation of immediate certainty?a view of my truest, most actual life?thoughts change into laws?wishes are fulfilled. For the weak person the fact of this moment is an article of faith. The phenomenon becomes especially striking at the sight of many human forms and faces?particularly so on catching sight of many eyes, expressions, movements?on hearing certain words, reading certain passages?at certain views of life, world, and fate. Very many chance incidents, many natural events, particular times of the day and year bring us such experiences. Certain moods are especially favorable to such revelations. Most last only an instant?few linger?fewest of all remain. In this respect there are great differences between people. One is more capable of experiencing revelations than another. One has more sense of them, the other more understanding. The latter kind will always remain in their soft light; even if the former has only intermittent flashes of illumination, they are brighter and more varied. This capacity is also susceptible to illness, which signifies either excessive sense and deficient understanding?or excessive understanding and deficient sense."

"Man has his being in truth--if he sacrifices truth he sacrifices himself. Whoever betrays truth betrays himself. It is not a question of lying--but of acting against one's conviction."

"Many books are longer than they seem. They have indeed no end. The boredom that they cause is truly absolute and infinite."

"Man is a sun and his senses are the planets."

"Many counterrevolutionary books have been written in favor of the Revolution. But Burke has written a revolutionary book against the Revolution."

"Man is the Messiah of Nature."

"Modesty is probably a sense of desecration. Friendship, love, devotion should be treated mysteriously. We should talk about them only in rare moments, intimate, let us understand the silence about them - Many things are too delicate to be thought, and more to be spoken."

"Man has ever expressed some symbolical Philosophy of his Being in his Works and Conduct; he announces himself and his Gospel of Nature; he is the Messiah of Nature."

"Love is the final purpose of world history ? the Amen of the universe. Love works magically... Love causes magic."

"Man is the higher sense of our planet, the star which connects it with the upper world, the eye which it turns towards heaven."

"Many things are too delicate to be thought; many more to be spoken."

"Most observers of the French Revolution, especially the clever and noble ones, have explained it as a life-threatening and contagious illness. They have remained standing with the symptoms and have interpreted these in manifold and contrary ways. Some have regarded it as a merely local ill. The most ingenious opponents have pressed for castration. They well noticed that this alleged illness is nothing other than the crisis of beginning puberty."

"Must the morning always return? Will the despotism of the earthly never cease? Unholy activity consumes the angel-visit of the Night. Will the time never come when Love's hidden sacrifice shall burn eternally? To the Light a season was set; but everlasting and boundless is the dominion of the Night. -- Endless is the duration of sleep. Holy Sleep -- gladden not too seldom in this earthly day-labor, the devoted servant of the Night. Fools alone mistake thee, knowing nought of sleep but the shadow which, in the twilight of the real Night, thou pitifully castest over us. They feel thee not in the golden flood of the grapes -- in the magic oil of the almond tree -- and the brown juice of the poppy. They know not that it is thou who hauntest the bosom of the tender maiden, and makest a heaven of her lap -- never suspect it is thou, opening the doors to Heaven, that steppest to meet them out of ancient stories, bearing the key to the dwellings of the blessed, silent messenger of secrets infinite."

"No explanation is required for Holy Writing. Whoso speaks truly is full of eternal life, and wonderfully related to genuine mysteries does his Writing appear to us, for it is a Concord from the Symphony of the Universe. He watches in our eyes whether the star has yet risen upon us, which is to make the Figure visible and intelligible"

"My opinion, my conviction, gains immensely in strength and sureness the minute a second mind as adopted it."

"Nature is a petrified magic city."

"Nature too remains, so far as we have yet come, ever a frightful Machine of Death: everywhere monstrous revolution, inexplicable vortices of movement; a kingdom of Devouring, of the maddest tyranny; a baleful Immense: the few light-points disclose but a so much the more appalling Night, and terrors of all sorts must palsy every observer."