It is not merely the multiplicity of tints, the gladness of tone, or the balminess of the air which delight in the spring; it is the still consecrated spirit of hope, the prophecy of happy days yet to come; the endless variety of nature, with presentiments of eternal flowers which never shall fade, and sympathy with the blessedness of the ever-developing world.
NovalisThe seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet. Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap.
NovalisImagination places the future world for us either above or below or in reincarnation. We dream of travels throughout the universe: is not the universe within us? We do not know the depths of our spirit. The mysterious path leads within. In us, or nowhere, lies eternity with its worlds, the past and the future.
NovalisWhen one begins to reflect on philosophyโthen philosophy seems to us to be everything, like God, and love. It is a mystical, highly potent, penetrating ideaโwhich ceaselessly drives us inward in all directions. The decision to do philosophyโto seek philosophy is the act of self-liberationโthe thrust toward ourselves.
Novalis