As an artist, you should not wish to create what you don’t feel you have to create.
People who read only the Classics are sure to remain up-to-date.
There is a poet in every competent person; this comes out when they write, read, speak or listen.
Art originated in a longing for the superfluous.
The spirit of a language is revealed most clearly through its untranslatable words.
Philosophers arrive at conclusions, poets must allow theirs to develop.
The old saw “It’s always hard to begin” only applies to skills. In art nothing is harder than to end, which means at the same time to perfect.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Aphorisms (Ariadne Press, 1994), translated by David Scrase and Wolfgang Mieder.
3 comments:
unstranslatable ....that is interesting!
I love this woman's aphorisms. I'd never encountered her work before reading this thin book. I'll be posting some more of her aphorisms at some point, and I'll have to look to see if any of her poems have been translated into English.
good !
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