Henri Frederic Amiel
Henri Frederic Amiel
Henri Frédéric Amielwas a Swiss moral philosopher, poet, and critic...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth27 September 1821
CountrySwitzerland
music ocean blessed
Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both.
children blessed childhood
Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough earthliness.
according duty
Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our powers.
french passion thirst truth
The thirst for truth is not a French passion
exercises faith inevitable life profession silent
Every life is a profession of faith and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.
becoming both common consists delusion lending madness oneself rising superior universal wisdom
Wisdom consists in rising superior both to madness and to common sense, and in lending oneself to the universal delusion without becoming its dupe.
finite fragments infinite space time
Time and space are fragments of the infinite for the use of the finite creatures.
advice haste life swift
Life is short. Be swift to love! Make haste to be kind!
haste hearts life short swift time travel
Life is short and we never have enough time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.
corner fallow heart leave mystery ready seed soil turning winds
Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the ploughshare of self-examination, but leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready for any seed the winds may bring...
understand within
We only understand that which already within us.
difficult easily impossible others talent
Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for others is genius.
soul suffering witness
Its way of suffering is the witness which a soul bares to itself.
motivational fitness freedom
In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties.