Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty. Henri Frederic Amiel More Quotes by Henri Frederic Amiel More Quotes From Henri Frederic Amiel Our life is nothing, it is true, but our life is divine. A breath of nature annihilates us, but we surpass nature in penetrating far beyond her vast phantasmagoria to the changeless and the eternal. Henri Frederic Amiel eternal divine life Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven. Henri Frederic Amiel music dream peace The philosopher aspires to explain away all mysteries, to dissolve them into light. Mystery, on the other hand, is demanded and pursued by the religious instinct; mystery constitutes the essence of worship. Henri Frederic Amiel light religious hands The great artist and thinker are the simplifiers. Henri Frederic Amiel great-art simplicity artist Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender. Henri Frederic Amiel self animal men Time and space are fragments of the infinite for the use of finite creatures. Henri Frederic Amiel space use time We become actors without realizing it, and actors without wanting to. Henri Frederic Amiel actors acting want To marry unequally is to suffer equally. Henri Frederic Amiel marriage suffering Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough earthliness. Henri Frederic Amiel childhood blessed children To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius. Henri Frederic Amiel talent genius impossible Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary - they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be. Henri Frederic Amiel greatness hero men Man is a willful and covetous animal, who makes use of his intellect to satisfy his inclinations, but who cares nothing for truth, who rebels against personal discipline, who hates disinterested thought and the idea of self-education. Wisdom offends him, because it rouses in him disturbance and confusion, and because he will not see himself as he is. Henri Frederic Amiel hate animal men To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on the lips of great men which so few understand; it is the cruelest trial reserved for self-devotion; it is what must have oftenest wrung the heart of the Son of man; and if God could suffer, it would be the wound we should be forever inflicting upon Him. He also - He above all - is the great misunderstood, the least comprehended. Henri Frederic Amiel heart love-is son Learn to limit yourself; to content yourself with some definite work; dare to be what you are and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not; and to believe in your own individuality. Henri Frederic Amiel grace happiness believe The great majority of men are but tangled skeins, imperfect keyboards, so many specimens of restless or stagnant chaos--and what makes their situation almost hopeless is the fact that they take pleasure in it. There is no curing a sick man who believes himself in health. Henri Frederic Amiel sick men believe Sympathy is the first condition of criticism; reason and justice presuppose, at their origin, emotion. Henri Frederic Amiel criticism justice firsts Tears are the symbol of the inability of the soul to restrain its emotion and retain its self command. Henri Frederic Amiel tears soul self The art which is grand and yet simple is that which presupposes the greatest elevation both in artist and in public. Henri Frederic Amiel artist simple art Christianity, if it is to triumph over pantheism, must absorb it. To our pusillanimous eyes Jesus would have borne the marks of a hateful pantheism, for he confirmed the Biblical phrase "ye are gods," and so would St. Paul, who tells us that we are of "the race of God." Our century wants a new theology - that is to say, a more profound explanation of the nature of Christ and of the light which it flashes upon heaven and upon humanity. Henri Frederic Amiel biblical eye jesus The mind must have for ballast the clear conception of duty, if it is not to fluctuate between levity and despair. Henri Frederic Amiel levity despair mind
