Sublime

See, I’m no scholar. I have no special skill in speaking or thinking. I only understand listening and piety; I’ve learned nothing else. If I were able to say and teach this, I might be a wise man, but as it stands, I am only a ferryman, and it is my task to ferry people across the river.

No, there were no teachings that a person who truly sought and wanted to find could accept. But the one who had already found could approve of any teachings, every path and goal; there was nothing that stood between him and the other thousands who lived in the eternal and breathed that which is divine.

L’adolescent semblait tout ensemble devenu plus jeune et plus vieux depuis qu’il avait trouvé le chemin de lui-même ; tout cela il le devait à Narcisse.

Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught.

For us, a man is a hero and deserves special interest only if his nature and his education have rendered him able to let his individuality be almost perfectly absorbed in its hierarchic function without at the same time forfeiting the vigorous, fresh, admirable impetus which make for the savor and worth of the individual.