The First Man Who Compared

How Have I Been Able To Live So Long Outside Nature Without Identifying Myself With It? Everything Lives, Moves, Everything Corresponds; The Magnetic Rays, Emanating Either From Myself Or From Others, Cross The Limitless Chain Of Created Things Unimpeded; It Is A Transparent Network That Covers The World, And Its Slender Threads Communicate Themselves By Degrees To The Planets And Stars. Captive Now Upon Earth, I Commune With The Chorus Of The Stars Who Share In My Joys And Sorrows.

The Tree Of Knowledge Is Not The Tree Of Life! And Yet Can We Cast Out Of Our Spirits All The Good Or Evil Poured Into Them By So Many Learned Generations? Ignorance Cannot Be Learned.

Why Should A Lobster Be Any More Ridiculous Than A Dog? ... Or A Cat, Or A Gazelle, Or A Lion, Or Any Other Animal One Chooses To Take For A Walk? I Have A Liking For Lobsters. They Are Peaceful, Serious Creatures. ... Goethe Had An Aversion To Dogs, And He Wasn't Mad. They Know The Secrets Of The Sea, They Don't Bark.

The Only Refuge Left To Us Was The Poet's Ivory Tower, Which We Climbed, Ever Higher, To Isolate Ourselves From The Mob.

L'imagination M'apportait Des Délices Infinies. En Recouvrant Ce Que Les Hommes Appellent La Raison, Faudra-t-il Regretter De Les Avoir Perdues...? My Imagination Gave Me Infinite Delight. In Recovering What Men Call Reason, Do I Have To Regret The Loss Of These Joys?