Poetry should describe itself, and always be simultaneously poetry and the poetry of poetry.

In England, wit is at least a profession, if not an art. everything becomes professional there, and even the rogues of that islandare pedants. So are the "wits" there too. They introduce into reality absolute freedom whose reflection lends a romantic and piquant air to wit, and thus they live wittily; hence their talent for madness. They die for their principles.

Like Leibniz's possible worlds, most men are only equally entitled pretenders to existence. There are few existences.

Even a friendly conversation which cannot be at any given moment be broken off voluntarily with complete arbitrariness has something illiberal about it. An artist, however, who is able and wants to express himself completely, who keeps nothing to himself and would wish to say everything he knows, is very much to be pitied.

With respect to ingenious subconsciousness, I think, philosophers might well rival poets.

All thinking of the religious man is etymological, a reduction of all concepts to the original intuition, to the characteristic.

One should have wit, but not wish to have it; otherwise there will be witticism, the Alexandrian style of wit.