Quotes from Robert Nathan

In the morning of the world," he said, "when the dew still lay upon the Garden, man was created so that there might be some one to enjoy it. In order that he might relish beauty, he was given a soul; and having a soul, he was given speech, since without speech, it is impossible to understand such abstractions as the soul. That was a mistake, but I do not see how it could have been avoided.

She had said: "How beautiful the world is, Eben. It was never made for anything but beauty — whether we lived now, or long ago." We had that beauty together. We never lost it.

We know so little", I said, "and there's so much to know. We live by taste and touch; we see only what is under our noses. There are solar systems up there above us, greater than our own; and whole universes in a drop of water. And time stretches out endlessly on every side. This earth, this ocean, this little moment of living, has no meaning by itself. . . Yesterday is just as true as today; only we forget.

Beauty is ever to the lonely mind A shadow fleeting; she is never plain. She is a visitor who leaves behind The gift of grief, the souvenir of pain.

Now a new era had dawned upon the world, which quivered with the impact of tremendous forces, of discoveries and inventions. Man rode upon the air, sent his voice across the seas, divided the indivisible, and penetrated the impenetrable. Audacious, optimistic, and indefatigable, he might even forget God altogether, and raise his limitless towers like altars to none other than himself.

We'd like to think that our youth was madder, brighter, happier than it was. It comforts us as we grow older, to believe that once upon a time we danced at dawn in a fountain.

Here is a world without joy and without hope. But it does not frighten me because I do not believe it.

Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that teaches you courage-and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which remains a mystery still-the veil that hides you from the infinite, which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see.

Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that teaches you courage.