German Language and Literature

The only thing in life is language. Not love. Not anything else.

* * * A man of the world amongst men of letters, a man of letters amongst men of the world.

There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is—to teach; the function of the second is—to move, the first is a rudder, the second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy.