“I cried with such sobbing as I had once done as a child, for that letter made me a child again.”

Original: Płakałem z takiem łkaniem jak dawniej, kiedy byłem dzieckiem, bo też list ten nanowo dzieckiem mię zrobił. — Memory and correspondence collapse the distance between the adult exile and the child he once was. · Letter to his mother, 1830s (Polish)

• Childhood
• Grief
• Memory

“Do you think that this will not exist for ever and ever: two prayers struck together into one prayer, two loves into one love, two forces into one force.”

Original: Czyś ty nigdy nie marzyła, droga moja, o spiorunowaniu dwóch modlitw w jedną modlitwę, dwojga miłości w jedną miłość, dwóch sił w jedną siłę? Czy ty myślisz, że tego na wieki wieków nie będzie? — He imagines human and spiritual unity as a force created by joining separate lives and purposes. · Letter to his mother, 15 October 1845 (Polish)

• Hope
• Love
• Unity

“If anything were dangerous to me now, it would be human happiness, great, immense and wholly human happiness.”

Original: Wiesz ty, droga moja, że jeżeliby mi co teraz było niebezpiecznem, to właśnie szczęście ludzkie, szczęście jakie wielkie, ogromne a zupełnie ludzkie. — He sees comfort and fulfilment as potentially distracting from the difficult path he has chosen. · Letter to his mother, 14 May 1844 (Polish)

• Happiness
• Purpose
• Sacrifice