“If you looked down to the bottom of my soul, you would understand fully the source of my longing and – pity me. Even the open, transparent lake has its unknown depths, which no divers know.”
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Hans Christian Andersen 41
Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet 1805–1875Related quotes

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/7cncd10.txt (1849), Wednesday

Wieland; or, the Transformation (1798)
Context: I feel little reluctance in complying with your request. You know not fully the cause of my sorrows. You are a stranger to the depth of my distresses. Hence your efforts at consolation must necessarily fail. Yet the tale that I am going to tell is not intended as a claim upon your sympathy. In the midst of my despair, I do not disdain to contribute what little I can for the benefit of mankind. I acknowledge your right to be informed of the events that have lately happened in my family. Make what use of the tale you shall think proper. If it be communicated to the world, it will inculcate the dusty of avoiding deceit. It will exemplify the force of early impressions, and show the immeasurable evils that flow from an erroneous or imperfect discipline.

The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), III : The Hunger of Immortality

2000s, Thus Spake Stallman (2000)

Source: Quoted in Insights in India https://www.insightsonindia.com/2014/07/27/knowledge-is-power-a-guide-to-upsc-exam-preparation-by-divya-s-iyer-ias/