On this height I often stand, my Bellarmin! But a moment of reflection casts me down. I begin to think, and find myself as I was before, alone, with … - Friedrich Hölderlin

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On this height I often stand, my Bellarmin! But a moment of reflection casts me down. I begin to think, and find myself as I was before, alone, with all the pains of mortality, and my heart’s sanctuary, the world's eternal oneness, is no more; nature’s arms are closed, and I stand before her like a stranger and cannot comprehend her.
Oh! had I never gone into your schools. It’s learning that lured me down into the pit, in my youthful folly I thought to find in it the proof of my pure joy, and it has ruined everything for me.
Amongst you I became so very rational, learnt to distinguish myself perfectly from what is around me, and now I’m set apart in the beautiful world, expelled from the garden of nature in which I grew and bloomed, and shrivel under the noonday sun.

English
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About Friedrich Hölderlin

Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (20 March 1770 – 6 June 1843) was a major German lyric poet, whose work bridges the Classical and Romantic schools.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin
Alternative Names: Frederich Holderlin
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Additional quotes by Friedrich Hölderlin

You seek life, and a godly fire Gushes and gleams for you out of the earth, As, with shuddering long, you Hurl yourself down to the flames of the Etna. <p> So by a queen's wanton whim Pearls were dissolved in wine- heed her not! What folly, poet, to cast your riches Into that bright and bubbling cup! <p> Yet still are you holy to me, as the might of the earth That bore you away, audaciously perishing! And I would follow the hero into the depths Did love not hold me.

Das gibt dem Menschen seine ganze Jugend, daß er Fesseln zerreißt.

Denn sie, die uns das himmlische Feuer leihen, die Götter, schenken heiliges Leid uns auch.

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