Henri Frederic Amiel
Henri Frederic Amiel
Henri Frédéric Amielwas a Swiss moral philosopher, poet, and critic...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth27 September 1821
CountrySwitzerland
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...
french passion thirst truth
The thirst for truth is not a French passion
according duty
Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our powers.
Tell me what you think you are and I will tell you what you are not
action becomes
Action is only coarsened thought; thought becomes concrete, obscure, and unconscious.
action both criticism faith liking order persistent troubled truth
A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism or doubt.
crushing destiny fate fulfilling refusing ways wishes
Destiny has two ways of crushing us -- by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.
cute-love guardian loving object past pious sweet-love woman
In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past -- a pious guardian of some affection, of which the object has disappeared.
science able finals
True poetry is truer than science, because it is synthetic, and seizes at once what the combination of all the sciences is able, at most, to attain as a final result.
happiness limits conquest
Happiness has no limits, because God has neither bottom nor bounds, and because happiness is nothing but the conquest of God through love.
happiness doe ugliness
Happiness does away with ugliness, and even makes the beauty of beauty.
evil effort want
Only evil grows of itself, while for goodness we want effort and courage.
roots religion enthusiasm
Religion is not a method, it is a life, a higher and supernatural life, mystical in its root and practical in its fruits; a communion with God, a calm and deep enthusiasm, a love which radiates, a force which acts, a happiness which overflows.
mean self order
Order means light and peace, inward liberty and free command over one's self; order is power.