“There are four elements, and each has at its centre another element which makes it what it is.  These are the four pillars of the world....  It is their contrary action which keeps up the harmony and equilibrium of the mundane machinery.” (Michael Sendivogius.)

  “Nature cannot work till it has been supplied with a material:  the
  first matter is furnished by God, the second matter by the sage.” 
  (Michael Sendivogius.)

“When corruptible elements are united in a certain substance, their strife must sooner or later bring about its decomposition, which is, of course, followed by putrefaction; in putrefaction, the impure is separated from the pure; and if the pure elements are then once more joined together by the action of natural heat, a much nobler and higher form of life is produced....  If the hidden central fire, which during life was in a state of passivity, obtain the mastery, it attracts to itself all the pure elements, which are thus separated from the impure, and form the nucleus of a far purer form of life.” (Michael Sendivogius.)

“Cause that which is above to be below; that which is visible to be invisible; that which is palpable to become impalpable.  Again let that which is below become that which is above; let the invisible become visible, and the impalpable become palpable.  Here you see the perfection of our Art, without any defect or diminution.” (Basil Valentine, 15th century.)

“Think most diligently about this; often bear in mind, observe and comprehend, that all minerals and metals together, in the same time, and after the same fashion, and of one and the same principal matter, are produced and generated.  That matter is no other than a mere vapour, which is extracted from the elementary earth by the superior stars, or by a sidereal distillation of the macrocosm; which sidereal hot infusion, with an airy sulphurous property, descending upon inferiors, so acts and operates as that there is implanted, spiritually and invisibly, a certain power and virtue in those metals and minerals; which fume, moreover, resolves in the earth into a certain water, wherefrom all metals are thenceforth generated and ripened to their perfection, and thence proceeds this or that metal or mineral, according as one of the three principles acquires dominion, and they have much or little of sulphur and salt, or an unequal mixture of these; whence some metals are fixed—­that is, constant or stable; and some are volatile and easily changeable, as is seen in gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead.” (Basil Valentine.)

“To grasp the invisible elements, to attract them by their material correspondences, to control, purify, and transform them by the living power of the Spirit—­this is true Alchemy.”  (Paracelsus.)

“Destruction perfects that which is good; for the good cannot appear on account of that which conceals it....  Each one of the visible metals is a concealment of the other six metals.”  (Paracelsus.)

These sayings read like sentences in a forgotten tongue.