“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

“Life there is so strange and light that Europe now seems dark to me.”

Original: Tak tam dziwne i lekkie jest życie, że mi teraz Europa ciemną się wydaje. — Distance has altered his perception of home and made another way of living seem luminous. · Letter to his mother, 24 November 1837 (Polish)

• Home
• Perception
• Travel

“Greece, full of wonderful ruins, pleased me greatly and astonished me more than Rome. Egypt has erased Greece from my memory.”

Original: Grecja pełna ruin przecudownych podobała mi się bardzo i bardziej niż Rzym mnie zachwyciła. Egipt zatarł Grecję w mojej pamięci. — His impressions of travel are vivid enough for one landscape to eclipse another in memory. · Letter to his mother, November 1836 (Polish)

• Beauty
• Memory
• Travel