Commonplace Book

'...There are thoughts which are companions having a language, and there are other thoughts which rest in a painful sleep upon our souls till the dumb weight of them brings us to dust. Grief, despair, the desire of beauty, the sorrow of partings, the thirst of ambition, the attachment to friends are not small contemptible weaknesses [...] A strong man has living blood in his veins and he shows his character not by despising - still less in denying his emotions - but in exalting them. And that is no light achievement...'

from The School for Saints by John Oliver Hobbes (Book II, Chapter V)