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I cannot explain the sadness
That's fallen on my breast.
An old, old fable haunts me,
And will not let me rest.

— Heinrich Heine

Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.

Original text (German)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Die Lorelei, st. 1

More quotes by Heinrich Heine

Great genius takes shape by contact with another great genius, but less by assimilation than by friction.

Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899)

Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance.

Experience is a good school. But the fees are high.

The Modern Handbook of Humor (1967)

Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.

The deepest truth blooms only from the deepest love.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Heinrich Heine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.