"In the present civilization, as in former civilizations, literature exists for the purpose of the perfecting of humanity in general, but in this field also—as in everything else contemporary—here is nothing substantial for our essential aim. It is all exterior; all only, as in the tale of the old sparrow, noise, rattling, and a nauseous smell." p. 16

"One of the most striking of these persistent pursuits of his, which later produced in me an indisputable beneficent result, acutely sensed by me and noticeable also to those with whom I came in contact during my wanderings in the various wilds of the earth in search for truth, was that during my childhood, that is, at the age when there are formed in man the data for the impulses he will have during his responsible life, my father took measures on every suitable occasion so that...