“At last, in the gray dawn of Civilization the fire in the Soul dies down. The dwindling powers rise to one more, half-successful, effort of creation, and produce the Classicism that is common to all dying Cultures. The soul thinks once again, and in Romanticism looks back piteously to its childhood; then finally, weary, reluctant, cold, it loses its desire to be, and, as in Imperial Rome, wishes itself out of the overlong daylight and back in the darkness of protomysticism in the womb of the mother in the grave.” ThinkingLooksSoulLastsMotherDesireDiesCultureWishLosesCommonEffortHalfDarknessSuccessfulFireChildhoodDyingCreationProduceColdCivilizationGravesDawnGrayRomeWearyWombReluctantRomanticismDaylightClassicism Book:The decline of the West Source: The decline of the West
“Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me.” MenHumansStillsI CanTwoBookHandsEarthMotherDiesMy OwnHuman BeingsSituationImagineDoorsAtheismSolitudeTestsDistancePositive AtheismSurrenderWhere You AreWombBecause I CanInfallibleHuman HandsFar Distance Book:Pointing the way: collected essays. Edited and translated with an introd. by Maurice S. Friedman Source: Pointing the way: collected essays. Edited and translated with an introd. by Maurice S. Friedman