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The will localizes us, thought universalizes us. My soul wavers between two, four, six general and contradictory conceptions, for it obeys all the great instincts of human nature, and aspires to the absolute, which can only be realized by a succession of contraries.

— Henri-Frédéric Amiel Journal Intime (1882)

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More quotes by Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Happiness has no limits, because God has neither bottom nor bounds, and because happiness is nothing but the conquest of God through love.

Journal Intime (1882)

Knowledge, love, power,—there is the complete life.

Journal Intime (1882)

Liberty, equality — bad principles! The only true principle for humanity is justice; and justice to the feeble becomes necessarily protection or kindness.

Journal Intime (1882)

The man who has no inner life is the slave of his surroundings.

Journal Intime (1882)

Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.

Journal Intime (1882)

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