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He always maintained that we fear something because we recognize it as fearsome through rational inferences, and that only the reason had any power; the heart had none. While I ate well and drank well, he kept demonstrating to me the advantages of reason... In striving after the positive, the poor man had argued away all life's splendour, all the sunbeams, all the faith and all the flowers, leaving nothing but the cold, positive grave.
He always maintained that we fear something because we recognize it as fearsome through rational inferences, and that only the reason had any power; the heart had none. While I ate well and drank well, he kept demonstrating to me the advantages of reason... In striving after the positive, the poor man had argued away all life's splendour, all the sunbeams, all the faith and all the flowers, leaving nothing but the cold, positive grave.
Approximate author period: c. 1826 AD · industrial
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- Author or tradition
- Heinrich Heine
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1826 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period evidence for Heinrich Heine: life dates 1797 to 1856. Wikidata Q44403, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44403 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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