"Everything great has already been said. But the person who knows how to stimulate his soul with the magnificence of it is always something new."
Vilhelm Ekelund was a Swedish poet. He is best known for his collections of poetry, such as Havets stjärna (1906), and Melodier i skymning (1902). His works often focus on the beauty of nature and the struggle between nature and modern life.
"The noble Nazarene ... who raged against "the world," against the philistinism, the halfheartedness, the lack of ideals—if he had guessed that he was forging a weapon for the hands of exactly "this world"—he who sensed the misfortune of humanity so deeply that he didnt find any other solution to its enigma than to entirely reject and turn his back on all that is earthly, would see his name dragged into the service of an intense philistine optimism."
"The Jesuit principle: withdrawal from the world—in order to act on the world—was frequently also the principle of genius."
"The artist and the poet have the facility for mistaking pure languor for meditative peace and strength. True meditation "rests" in swiftness."
"The egotism of wisdom: to burn all that is pettily, painfully, stupidly selfish in the fire of love of spiritual vision and freedom."
"Truth and beauty ... yield themselves only to whoever surrenders to them—as to a rescuer."
"What has been postponed by reason of road and effort is well postponed."