“Dissection may reveal the mechanism of the human body; but the phenomena of the soul, the secret of life, how can they be studied in a corpse?”

Original: La disección podrá revelar el mecanismo del cuerpo humano; pero los fenómenos del alma, el secreto de la vida, ¿cómo se estudian en un cadáver? — Bécquer challenges purely analytical approaches to art and the human soul. · Letter I, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Art
• Interpretation
• Mystery

“Poetry is that melancholy, vague longing that stirs your spirit with the desire for an impossible perfection.”

Original: Que poesía es, y no otra cosa, esa aspiración melancólica y vaga que agita tu espíritu con el deseo de una perfección imposible. — Bécquer links poetry with longing for an ideal that can never be completely attained. · Letter III, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Longing
• Perfection
• Poetry

“I know nothing, I have studied nothing; I have read a little, felt quite a lot and thought a great deal, though I cannot say whether well or badly.”

Original: Yo nada sé, nada he estudiado; he leído un poco, he sentido bastante y he pensado mucho, aunque no acertaré á decir si bien ó mal. — His deliberately self-deprecating admission places lived experience and reflection above academic authority. · Letter I, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Experience
• Humility
• Thought