Submitted by jsdubois015 on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 16:54
There are some things you read, or that people say, that just leave you speechless. Something that just reaches down into the core of your being and touches something there. For me, one such example is a quote I read some time ago by the 19th century author Jean Paul and I always keep it close by so I can re-read it. I don't want to give any commentary on it because, frankly, I can't. The quote seems to say it all and I don't know what else to add. Also, I want to just put this quote out there for you to read and ponder on it yourself, without any outside commentary.
One day the guardian genius of all who possess strong sensibility addressed Jupiter thus: "Father divine! bestow on thy poor human creatures a language more expressive than any they now possess; for they have only words signifying how they suffer, how they enjoy, and how they love." "Have I not given them tears?" replied the deity; "tears of pleasure, of pain, and the softer ones that flow from the tender passion?" The genuis answered: "O god of men! tears do not sufficiently speak the overflowings of the heart; give, I thee supplicate, to man a language, that can more powerfully paint the languishing and impassioned wishes of a susceptible soul, the recollections so delightful of infancy, the soft dreams of youth, and the hopes of another life which mature age indulges, while contemplating the last rays of the sun as they sink in the ocean; give them, father of all! a new language of the heart." At this moment the harmonies of the spheres announced to Jupiter the approach of the Muse of Song. To her the god immediately made a sign and thus uttered his behests: "Descend to earth, O Muse, and teach mankind thy language." And the Muse of Song descended to earth, taught us her accents, and from that time, the heart of man has been able to speak. - Paul Richter
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The Heart of Man Can Speak
Submitted by jsdubois015 on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 16:54
There are some things you read, or that people say, that just leave you speechless. Something that just reaches down into the core of your being and touches something there. For me, one such example is a quote I read some time ago by the 19th century author Jean Paul and I always keep it close by so I can re-read it. I don't want to give any commentary on it because, frankly, I can't. The quote seems to say it all and I don't know what else to add. Also, I want to just put this quote out there for you to read and ponder on it yourself, without any outside commentary.
One day the guardian genius of all who possess strong sensibility addressed Jupiter thus: "Father divine! bestow on thy poor human creatures a language more expressive than any they now possess; for they have only words signifying how they suffer, how they enjoy, and how they love." "Have I not given them tears?" replied the deity; "tears of pleasure, of pain, and the softer ones that flow from the tender passion?" The genuis answered: "O god of men! tears do not sufficiently speak the overflowings of the heart; give, I thee supplicate, to man a language, that can more powerfully paint the languishing and impassioned wishes of a susceptible soul, the recollections so delightful of infancy, the soft dreams of youth, and the hopes of another life which mature age indulges, while contemplating the last rays of the sun as they sink in the ocean; give them, father of all! a new language of the heart." At this moment the harmonies of the spheres announced to Jupiter the approach of the Muse of Song. To her the god immediately made a sign and thus uttered his behests: "Descend to earth, O Muse, and teach mankind thy language." And the Muse of Song descended to earth, taught us her accents, and from that time, the heart of man has been able to speak. - Paul Richter
Jean Paul or Paul Richter? Are they the same?
:)