To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius. It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe , by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well. The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.
Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing.
We must distrust our instinct of intervention, for the desire to make one's own will prevail is often disguised under the mask of solicitude. Melancholy is at the bottom of everything, just as at the end of all rivers is the sea. The gloom of an eternal mourning enwraps, more or less closely, every serious and thoughtful soul, as night enwraps the universe. 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. Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good.