There Are But Few Who Have Ideas

People Are Always Talking About Originality; But What Do They Mean? As Soon As We Are Born, The World Begins To Work Upon Us; And This Goes On To The End. And After All, What Can We Call Our Own, Except Energy, Strength, And Will? If I Could Give An Account Of All That I Owe To Great Predecessors And Contemporaries, There Would Be But A Small Balance In My Favor.

When We See The Many Grave-stones Which Have Fallen In, Which Have Been Defaced By The Footsteps Of The Congregation, Which Lie Buried Under The Ruins Of The Churches, That Have Themselves Crumbled Together Over Them; We May Fancy The Life After Death To Be As A Second Life, Into Which Man Enters In The Figure, Or The Picture Or The Inscription, And Lives Longer There Than When He Was Really Alive. But This Figure Also, This Second Existence, Dies Out Too, Sooner Or Later. Time Will Not Allow Himself To Be Cheated Of His Rights With The Monuments Of Men Or With Themselves.

Everything Which Is Properly Business We Must Keep Carefully Separate From Life. Business Requires Earnestness And Method; Life Must Have A Freed Handling.

Yes, My Love, Who Soever Lives, Loses, . . . But He Also Wins. [ger., Ja, Meine Liebe, Wer Lebt, Verliebt . . . Aber Er Gewinnt Auch.]

The Eye Doesn't See Any Shapes, It Sees Only What Is Differentiated Through Light And Dark Or Through Colors.