Is It Life, I Ask,

Mysterious In The Light Of Day, Nature Retains Her Veil, Despite Our Clamours: That Which She Does Not Willingly Display Cannot Be Wrenched From Her With Levers, Screws And Hammers.

What Men Usually Say Of Misfortunes, That They Never Come Alone, May With Equal Truth Be Said Of Good Fortune; Nay, Of Other Circumstances Which Gather Round Us In A Harmonious Way, Whether It Arise From A Kind Of Fatality, Or That Man Has The Power Of Attracting To Himself Things That Are Mutually Related.

All Sects Seem To Me To Be Right In What They Assert, And Wrong In What They Deny.

The Trouble Is Small, The Fun Is Great. [ger., Die Muh'ist Klein, Der Spass Ist Gross.]

It Is Not Given To Us To Grasp The Truth, Which Is Identical With The Divine, Directly. We Perceive It Only In Reflection, In Example And Symbol, In Singular And Related Appearances. It Meets Us As A Kind Of Life Which Is Incomprehensible To Us, And Yet We Cannot Free Ourselves From The Desire To Comprehend It.