Quote of the Day (Marcel Proust, on the Intellect and the Truth)

“The intellect is not the most subtle, powerful and appropriate instrument for grasping the truth….It is life which little by little, case by case, allows us to realize that what is most important for our hearts or our minds is taught us not by reason but by other powers. And then it is the intellect itself, which, recognizing their superiority, uses its reasoning in order to abdicate in their favour and accepts the role of collaborator and servant.” —French novelist Marcel Proust (1871-1922), The Fugitive, Vol. 6 of In Search of Lost Time, translated by Peter Collier (1925)

Quote of the Day (Albert Camus, on Struggle and Heart)

"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." —French novelist, essayist and playwright (and Nobel Literature laureate) Albert Camus (1913-1960), The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, translated by Justin O’Brien (1942)

Quote of the Day (Goethe, on What ‘A Man Sees in the World’)

“A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: First Part (1808)

(Thanks to my friend Mary Ann for bringing this quote to my attention.)

Quote of the Day (John Keats, on the ‘Holiness of the Heart’s Affections’)

“I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination.”—British Romantic poet John Keats to Benjamin Bailey, Letter of November 22, 1817

Song Lyric of the Day (‘Damn Yankees,’ on ‘Heart’ Before Genius)

“Oh, it's fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse
Before the cart
First you've gotta have heart.”—“Heart,” from the musical Damn Yankees, book by Douglass Wallop and George Abbott, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, from the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, by Douglass Wallop (1955)