A poem is one undivided unimpeded expression fallen ripe into
literature, and it is undividedly and unimpededly received by
those for whom it was matured.
If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what
you will never read, you have done rare things.
The work we choose should be our own,
God lets alone.
The unconsciousness of man is the consciousness of God.
Deep are the foundations of sincerity. Even stone walls have
their foundation below the frost.
What is produced by a free stroke charms us, like the forms of
lichens and leaves. There is a certain perfection in accident
which we never consciously attain. Draw a blunt quill filled
with ink over a sheet of paper, and fold the paper before the ink
is dry, transversely to this line, and a delicately shaded and
regular figure will be produced, in some respects more pleasing
than an elaborate drawing.
The talent of composition is very dangerous, - the striking out
the heart of life at a blow, as the Indian takes off a scalp. I
feel as if my life had grown more outward when I can express it.
On his journey from Brenner to Verona, Goethe writes:
"The Tees flows now more gently, and makes in many places broad
sands. On the land, near to the water, upon the hillsides,
everything is so closely planted one to another, that you think
they must choke one another, - vineyards, maize, mulberry-trees,
apples, pears, quinces, and nuts.
