“It is an acknowledgment of the beauty of the universe, an acknowledgment the more sincere because it is not formal, but indirect; it is a task light and easy to him who looks at the world in the spirit of love: further, it is a homage paid to the native and the naked dignity of man, to the grand elementary principle of pleasure, by which he knows, and feels, and lives, and moves.” – William Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads
“To them I may have owed another gift
Of aspect more sublime, that blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,-
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quite by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.” – William Wordsworth, from Lines
“I was dependent on none and related to none. The path of my departure was free, and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them” Mary Shelly, Frankenstein.
“for what wears out the life of mortal men?
‘Tis that from change to change their being rolls;
‘Tis that repeated shocks, again, again,
Exhaust the energy of the strongest souls.” -Matthew Arnold
“A grief without a pang, void, dark and drear,
A drowsy, stifled, unimpassioned grief,
Which finds no natural outlet or relief
In word, or sigh, or tear” Samuel Coleridge, “Dejection: an ode”
“Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way” John Stuart Mill, Autobiography
“Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove” Lord Alfred Tennyson “In Memoriam”
AICHA BINT YUSIF 