“Alas for love, if thou wert all,
And naught beyond, O Earth!”
Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) English poet
The Graves of a Household, st. 8.
Absence conquers Love.
“Alas for love, if thou wert all,
And naught beyond, O Earth!”
Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) English poet
The Graves of a Household, st. 8.
Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, lin…
As quoted in The New Dictionary of Thoughts : A Cyclopedia of Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern, Alphabetically Arranged by Subjects (1957) by Tryon Edwards, p. 510
Romain Rolland (1866–1944) French author
Jean-Christophe (1904 - 1912), Journey's End: The Burning Bush (1911)
Context: "Thou art not alone, and thou dost not belong to thyself. Thou art one of My voices, thou art one of My arms. Speak and strike for Me. But if the arm be broken, or the voice be weary, then still I hold My ground: I fight with other voices, other arms than thine. Though thou art conquered, yet art thou of the army which is never vanquished. Remember that and thou wilt fight even unto death."
"Lord, I have suffered much!"
"Thinkest thou that I do not suffer also? For ages death has hunted Me and nothingness has lain in wait for Me. It is only by victory in the fight that I can make My way. The river of life is red with My blood."
"Fighting, always fighting?"
"We must always fight. God is a fighter, even He Himself. God is a conqueror. He is a devouring lion. Nothingness hems Him in and He hurls it down. And the rhythm of the fight is the supreme harmony. Such harmony is not for thy mortal ears. It is enough for thee to know that it exists. Do thy duty in peace and leave the rest to the Gods."
Kenzaburō Ōe (1935) Japanese author
Japan, The Ambiguous, and Myself (1994)
Context: "The voice of a crying and dark soul" is beautiful, and his act of expressing it in music cures him of his dark sorrow in an act of recovery. Furthermore, his music has been accepted as one that cures and restores his contemporary listeners as well. Herein I find the grounds for believing in the exquisite healing power of art.
This belief of mine has not been fully proved. 'Weak person' though I am, with the aid of this unverifiable belief, I would like to "suffer dully all the wrongs" accumulated throughout the twentieth century as a result of the monstrous development of technology and transport. As one with a peripheral, marginal and off-centre existence in the world I would like to seek how — with what I hope is a modest decent and humanist contribution — I can be of some use in a cure and reconciliation of mankind.
“This truth—to prove, and make thine own:
‘Thou hast been, shalt be, art, alone.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
"Isolation" (1857)
“Oh! world of sweet phantoms, how precious thou art!
The past is perpetual youth to the heart.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
“Oh, be wise, Thou!
Instructed that true knowledge leads to love.”
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Romantic poet
Quote reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 419-23.
Lines (1795)