Do you not believe in silence? I do. When Cain had killed Abel, Abel was silent. But Abel’s blood shouts to heaven. What dreadful eloquence, never quiet - what power in silence!
One single act performed with true self-denial, in renunciation of the world, is infinitely more of a revival and more of Christianity than 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 persons, so long as they keep it ambiguous.
Teach me, O God, not to torture myself, not to make a martyr out of myself through stifling reflection, but rather teach me to breathe deeply in faith.
The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.
There are, as is known, insects that die in the moment of fertilization. So it is with all joy: life's highest, most splendid moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death.
What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music.
