E. T. A. Hoffmann

How prone poor Humanity is to dam up the minutest remnants of its freedom, and build an artificial roof to prevent it looking up to the clear blue sky. ”

Think of the wonderful circles in which our whole being moves and from which we cannot escape no matter how we try. The circler circles in these circles. ”

Not a single man on earth knows from his own experience the how and where of his birth, only from tradition, which is often very uncertain. ”

It is useless to contend with the irresistible power of Time, which goes on continually creating by a process of constant destruction. ”