Novalis here alludes to Plutarch's account of the shrine of the goddess Minerva, identified with Isis, at Sais, which he reports had the inscription "I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised."
Pupils at Sais (1799)
“Someone arrived there — who lifted the veil of the goddess, at Sais.”
But what did he see? He saw — wonder of wonders — himself.
Novalis here alludes to Plutarch's account of the shrine of the goddess Minerva, identified with Isis, at Sais, which he reports had the inscription "I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised."
Pupils at Sais (1799)
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Novalis 102
German poet and writer 1772–1801Related quotes
“Death is the veil which those who live call life;
They sleep, and it is lifted.”
Earth, Act III, sc. iii, l. 113
Variant: Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life.
Source: Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)
“The Latmian hunter rests in the summer shade, fit lover for a goddess, and soon the Moon comes with veiled horns.”
Latmius aestiva residet venator in umbra
dignus amore deae, velatis cornibus et iam
Luna venit.
Source: Argonautica, Book VIII, Lines 28–30
“Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.”
Pearls of Wisdom
A Defence of Poetry http://www.bartleby.com/27/23.html (1821)
Fact and Fiction (1961), Part II, Ch. 10: "University Education", p. 153
1960s
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman:A Legend of Modern Indian Science, 22 November 2013, Official Government of India's website Vigyan Prasar http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/cvraman/raman1.htm,
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
“We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil.”
"Mind Games"
Lyrics, Mind Games (1973)
Context: p>We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil.
Doing the mind guerrilla,
Some call it magic — the search for the grail. Love is the answer and you know that for sure.
Love is a flower, you got to let it — you got to let it grow.</p