On the work of the metal-smith Tubal-Cain
The Legend of Jubal (1869)
Context: Each day he wrought and better than he planned,
Shape breeding shape beneath his restless hand.
(The soul without still helps the soul within,
And its deft magic ends what we begin.)
Nay, in his dreams his hammer he would wield
And seem to see a myriad types revealed,
Then spring with wondering triumphant cry,
And, lest the inspiring vision should go by,
Would rush to labor with that plastic zeal
Which all the passion of our life can steal
For force to work with. Each day saw the birth
Of various forms, which, flung upon the earth,
Seemed harmless toys to cheat the exacting hour,
But were as seeds instinct with hidden power.
Hermann Hesse book Peter Camenzind
Variant translation: In the beginning was the myth. Just as the great god composed and struggled for expression in the souls of the Indians, the Greeks and Germanic peoples, so to it continues to compose daily in the soul of every child.
Peter Camenzind (1904)
Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States
Source: Nemesis Games (2015), Chapter 51 (p. 514)
François Fénelon (1651–1715) Catholic bishop
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 543.
“We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go”
Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer
The Rubaiyat (1120)
Context: We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;
George Moore (novelist) (1852–1933) Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist
Source: Confessions of a Young Man http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12278/12278-h/12278-h.htm (1886), Ch. 1.
David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas
"Sloosha's Crossin' an Ev'rythin' After", p. 308
Cloud Atlas (2004)
Context: Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies, an' tho' a cloud's shape nor hue nor size don't stay the same, it's still a cloud an' so is a soul. Who can say where the cloud's blowed from or who the soul'll be 'morrow? Only Sonmi the east an' the compass an' the atlas, yay, only the atlas o' clouds.
Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) English writer and gardener
"Winter", p. 5
The Land (1926)
Context: The country habit has me by the heart,
For he's bewitched for ever who has seen,
Not with his eyes but with his vision, Spring
Flow down the woods and stipple leaves with sun,
As each man knows the life that fits him best,
The shape it makes in his soul, the tune, the tone,
And after ranging on a tentative flight
Stoops like the merlin to the constant lure.
Henry Moore (1898–1986) English artist
Quote of Moore from his text 'The sculptor speaks' (1937), p. unknown
1925 - 1940
Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest
Father Roubert and the Count of Berat, p. 33
The Grail Quest, Heretic (2003)
