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| �And it is an agony to have to live in such a way that, in effect, I have to let them think me mad just to be allowed to think--otherwise a great fuss may be made about me, I will have to tap my wine-glass and make speeches at gatherings, loved and honoured by all those who do not think.� (1848)
�And it was the delight of his eyes and his heart's desire. And he stretched forth his hand and took hold of it, but he could not retain it; it was offered to him, but he could not possess it alas, for it was the delight of his eyes and his heart's desire. And his soul was giving it up, to the lesser, which was to possess it without right; or to speak more truly... he chose the lesser suffering of being without it rather than to possess it at the cost of his peace of soul...and strange to relate, it came to pass that it was for his good.� ("Disjecta Membra", May, 1842) �And may what was originally in my soul always remain true for me, that blessed thing: God is love, his wisdom infinite, and his possibilities infinite, while my own intelligence is but that of a sparrow, and where I can hardly count on one possibility, he has millions!� (1849) �And now even if this is something which cannot be represented in art, let it be your comfort as it is mine that the highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, may be lived.� (Either/Or, VOL. II: THE AESTHETIC VALIDITY OF MARRIAGE) �And so the entries I have are either so completely cryptic that I no longer understand them or they are entirely occasional; also I can see that so many entries come from one and the same day, which seems to indicate a sort of day of reckoning. That's crazy.� (1837) �And, strangely enough, philosophy steadily advances, and in spite of there being in the whole crowd of philosophers not one single player but simply people keeping score. I wait in vain for a man to appear with the strength to say: a point. In vain--we are already well into quarant and the game will soon be over and all the riddles explained. If only the German philosophers could explain the riddle that the game goes on even though there is no one playing.� (1842) �And that is more or less where we are now. Everywhere understanding. Instead of unconditional obedience, obedience to the force of argument; instead of faith, knowledge of reasons; instead of confidence, guarantees; instead of venturing, probability and shrewd calculation; instead of action, happening; instead of the individual, a few hands; instead of personality, impersonal objectivity, etc.� ("The In-And-For-Itself--And My Task", 1852) �And this is the pitiful thing to one who contemplates human life, that so many live on in a quiet state of perdition; they outlive themselves, not in the sense that the content of life is successively unfolding and now is possessed in this expanded state, but they live their lives, as it were, outside of themselves, they vanish like shadows, their immortal soul is blown away, and they are not alarmed by the problem of its immortality, for they are already in a state of dissolution before they die.� (Either/Or, VOL. II: EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN THE AESTHETICAL AND THE ETHICAL IN THE COMPOSITION OF PERSONALITY) |
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