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Amiel, Henri Frédéric

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Henri Frédéric Amiel (September 27, 1821 - May 11, 1881) was a Swiss philosopher, poet and critic.

Born in Geneva in 1821, he was descended from a Huguenot family driven to Switzerland by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

After losing his parents at an early age, Amiel travelled widely, became intimate with the intellectual leaders of Europe, and made a special study of German philosophy in Berlin. In 1849 he was appointed professor of aesthetics at the academy of Geneva, and in 1854 became professor of moral philosophy. These appointments, conferred by the democratic party, deprived him of the support of the aristocratic party, which comprised nearly all the culture of the city.

This isolation inspired the one book by which Amiel is still known, the Journal Intime ("Private Journal"), which, published after his death, obtained a European reputation. It was translated into English by Mary A. Ward.

Although second-rate as regards productive power, Amiel's mind was of no inferior quality, and his Journal gained a sympathy that the author had failed to obtain in his life. In addition to the Journal, he produced several volumes of poetry and wrote studies on Erasmus, Madame de Stael and other writers. He died in Geneva.

Poetical Works

  • Grains de mil
  • II penseroso
  • Part du rêve
  • Les Etrangères
  • Charles le Téméraire
  • Romancero historiquan
  • Jour à jour

Quotes

  • Learn to limit yourself, to content yourself with some definite thing, and some definite work; dare to be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not and to believe in your own individuality.
  • The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.
  • Oh, do not let us wait to be just or pitiful or demonstrative toward those we love until they or we are struck down by illness or threatened with death! Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind!
  • The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms.
  • Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more.
  • Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence
  • The great artist is the simplifier.
  • A man without passion is only a latent force, only a possibility, like a stone waiting for the blow from the iron to give forth sparks.
  • Is all my scribbling collected together- my correspondence, these thousands of pages, my lectures, my articles, my verses, my various memodanda- anything but a collection of dry leaves? To whom and for what have I been of use? And will my name live for even a day after me, and will it have any meaning to anyone? An insignificant, empty life! Vie Nulle!

References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

This biographical information was gathered from the Henri_Frédéric_Amiel page, courtesy of the Wikipedia project.

Books

Amiel's Journal

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