Quote#Wisdom
Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my antagonist—it was…
Quote byEdgar Allan Poe · 1809–1849
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: William Wilson (1839).
English (original)
Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my antagonist—it was Wilson, who then stood before me in the agonies of his dissolution. His mask and cloak lay, where he had thrown them, upon the floor. Not a thread in all his raiment—not a line in all the marked and singular lineaments of his face which was not, even in the most absolute identity, mine own!
— Edgar Allan Poe
More from Edgar Allan Poe
By a route obscure and lonely, Haunted by ill angels only, Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, On a black throne reigns upright, I have reached these lands but newly From an ultimate dim Thule —
O, human love! thou spirit given, On Earth, of all we hope in Heaven!
If I could dwell Where Israfel Hath dwelt, and he where I, He might not sing so wildly well A mortal melody, While a bolder note than this might swell
Come! let the burial rite be read — the funeral song be sung! — An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young — A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.
A dark unfathom'd tide Of interminable pride — A mystery, and a dream, Should my early life seem.
The happiest day — the happiest hour My sear'd and blighted heart hath known, The highest hope of pride and power, I feel hath flown.