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Nature! We Live In Her Midst And Know Her Not. She Is Incessantly Speaking To Us, But Betrays Not Her Secret. We Constantly Act Upon Her, And Yet Have No Power Over Her. Variant: Nature! We Are Surrounded And Embraced By Her: Powerless To Separate Ourselves From Her, And Powerless To Penetrate Beyond Her.

-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Nature! We Live In

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Nature! We Live In Her Midst And Know Her Not. She Is Incessantly Speaking To Us, But Betrays Not Her Secret. We Constantly Act Upon Her, And Yet Have No Power Over Her. Variant: Nature! We Are Surrounded And Embraced By Her: Powerless To Separate Ourselves From Her, And Powerless To Penetrate Beyond Her.

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More From Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

All Is Born Of Water; All Is Sustained By Water.

Every Spoken Word Arouses Our Self-will.

If Society Gives Up The Right To Impose The Death Penalty, Then Self-help Will Appear Again And Personal Vendettas Will Be Around The Corner.

All Things Are Only Transitory.

Analysis And Synthesis Are Both As Necessary To The Thinking Spirit As Inspiration And Expiration To The Organism.

Sound And Sufficient Reason Falls, After All, To The Share Of But Few Men, And Those Few Men Exert Their Influence In Silence.

True Religion Teaches Us To Reverence What Is Under Us, To Recognize Humility And Poverty, And, Despite Mockery And Disgrace, Wretchedness, Suffering, And Death, As Things Divine.

Suffering And Death

The Philosophers Must Station Themselves In The Middle.

Oh, Happy He Who Still Hopes He Can Emerge From Error's Boundless Sea! - Faust.

If You Wish To Advance Into The Infinite, Explore The Finite In All Directions.

True Observers Of Nature, Although They May Think Differently, Will Still Agree That Everything That Is, Everything That Is Observable As A Phenomenon, Can Only Exhibit Itself In One Of Two Ways. It Is Either A Primal Polarity That Is Able To Unify, Or It Is A Primal Unity That Is Able To Divide. The Operation Of Nature Consists Of Splitting The United Or Uniting The Divided; This Is The Eternal Movement Of Systole And Diastole Of The Heartbeat, The Inhalation And Exhalation Of The World In Which We Live, Act, And Exist.

Cursed Mammon Be, When He With Treasures To Restless Action Spurs Our Fate! Cursed When For Soft, Indulgent Leisures, He Lays For Us The Pillows Straight.

Rest Not Life Is Sweeping By Go And Dare Before You Die. Something Mighty And Sublime, Leave Behind To Conquer Time.

I Have, Alas! Philosophy, Medicine, Jurisprudence Too, And To My Cost Theology, With Ardent Labor, Studied Through. And Here I Stand, With All My Lore, Poor Fool, No Wiser Than Before.

What I Possess, Seems Far Away To Me, And What Is Gone Becomes Reality.

He Who Possesses Science And Art, Possesses Religion As Well; He Who Possesses Neither Of These, Had Better Have Religion.

Science And Religion

Wood Burns Because It Has The Proper Stuff For That Purpose In It; And A Man Becomes Renowned Because He Has The Necessary Stuff In Him. Renown Is Not To Be Sought, And All Pursuit Of It Is Vain. A Person May, Indeed, By Skillful Conduct And Various Artificial Means, Make A Sort Of Name For Himself; But If The Inner Jewel Is Wanting, All Is Vanity, And Will Not Last A Day.

What Is Now The Foliage Moving? Air Is Still, And Hush'd The Breeze, Sultriness, This Fullness Loving, Through The Thicket, From The Trees. Now The Eye At Once Gleams Brightly, See! The Infant Band With Mirth Moves And Dances Nimbly, Lightly, As The Morning Gave It Birth, Flutt'ring Two And Two O'er Earth.

Those Who Have No Hope For A Future Life Are Already Dead For The Present One.

One Can't Dull A Project Better Than By Discussing It Repeatedly.

The Most Damaging Prejudice Consists Of Banning Any Kind Of Investigation Of Nature.

Reasonable Men Are The Best Dictionaries Of Conversation.

There Is No Past We Can Bring Back By Longing For It. There Is Only An Eternal Now That Builds And Creates Out Of The Past Something New And Better.

If You Lay Duties Upon People And Give Them No Rights, You Must Pay Them Well.

Wer Fremde Sprachen Nicht Kennt, Weiss Nichts Von Seiner Eigenen.he Who Is Ignorant Of Foreign Languages, Knows Not His Own.

Foreign Language

To Know Where A Thing Is We Must Have Found It.

When Nature Begins To Reveal Her Open Secret To A Man, He Feels An Irresistible Longing For Her Worthiest Interpreter, Art.

In Art, To Express The Infinite One Should Suggest Infinitely More Than Is Expressed.

The Whole History Of The Christian Church Is A Mixture Of Errors And Violence.

Only That Type Of Story Deserves To Be Called Moral That Shows Us That One Has The Power Within Oneself To Act, Out Of The Conviction That There Is Something Better, Even Against One's Own Inclination.

Sin Writes Histories, Goodness Is Silent. [ger., Das Uebel Macht Eine Geschichte Und Das Gute Keine.]

Only The Heart Without A Stain Knows Perfect Ease. [ger., Ganz Unbefleckt Geniesst Sich Nur Das Herz.]

If It Is The Greatest Truth That You Seek, The Plants Can Direct You.

Desire Is The Presentiment Of Our Inner Abilities, And The Forerunner Of Our Ultimate Accomplishments.

Everyone Is Deceived In His Hopes, Cheated In His Expectations.

It Is Better To Do The Smallest Thing In The World Than To Hold Half An Hour To Be Too Small A Thing.

Against Great Advantages In Another, There Are No Means Of Defending Ourselves Except Love.

Nature Does Not Suffer Her Veil To Be Taken From Her, And What She Does Not Choose To Reveal To The Spirit, Thou Wilt Not Wrest From Her By Levers And Screws.

I Can Tell You, Honest Friend, What To Believe: Believe Life; It Teaches Better That Book Or Orator.

All One Needs To Do Is Declare Oneself Free And One Will Immediately Feel Dependent. If You Dare To Declare Yourself Dependent, You Feel Independent.

No Wise Combatant Underestimates Their Antagonist.

Mediocrity Has No Greater Consolation Than In The Thought That Genius Is Not Immortal.

We Are Never Further From What We Wish Than When We Believe That We Have What We Wished For.

I Always Had An Aversion To Your Apostles Of Freedom; Each But Sought For Himself Freedom To Do What He Liked.

We Are Our Own Aptest Deceiver.

A Well-bred Carriage Is Difficult To Imitate; For In Strictness It Is Negative, And It Implies A Long-continued Previous Training.

What We Don't Understand We Don't Possess.

Divide And Rule, The Politician Cries; Unite And Lead, Is Watchword Of The Wise.

Even The Lowliest, Provided He Is Whole, Can Be Happy, And In His Own . Way, Perfect.

The Highest Problem Of Any Art Is To Cause By Appearance The Illusion Of A Higher Reality.

If Each One Does Their Duty As An Individual And If Each One Works In Their Own Proper Vocation, It Will Be Right With The Whole.

To Be Loved For What One Is, That Is The Greatest Exception. The Great Majority Love In Others Only What They Lend Him; Their Own Selves, Their Version Of Him.

It Is Said, That No One Is A Hero To Their Butler. The Reason Is, That It Requires A Hero To Recognize A Hero. The Butler, However, Will Probably Know Well How To Estimate His Equals.

Beauty Is A Primeval Phenomenon, Which Itself Never Makes Its Appearance, But The Reflection Of Which Is Visible In A Thousand Different Utterances Of The Creative Mind, And Is As Various As Nature Herself.

One Should Not Wish Anyone Disagreeable Conditions Of Life; But For Him Who Is Involved In Them By Chance, They Are Touchstones Of Characters And Of The Most Decisive Value To Man.

The World Of Reason Is To Be Regarded As A Great And Immortal Being, Who Ceaselessly Works Out What Is Necessary, And So Makes Himself Lord Also Over What Is Accidental.

The Rabble Also Vent Their Rage In Words. [ger., Es Macht Das Volk Sich Auch Mit Worten Lust.]

If You Must Tell Me Your Opinions, Tell Me What You Believe In. I Have Plenty Of Doubts Of My Own.

Chess Is The Touchstone Of Intellect.

I Do Not Know Myself, And God Forbid That I Should.

That Is The Way Of Youth And Life In General: That We Do Not Understand The Strategy Until After The Campaign Is Over.

America, You Have It Better Than Our Continent, The Old One.

Things Which Matter Most Must Never Be At The Mercy Of Things Which Matter Least.

Don't Give Us Your Doubts, Gives Us Your Certainties, For We Have Doubts Enough Of Our Own.

Over The Trackless Past, Somewhere, Lie The Lost Days Of Our Tropic Youth, Only Regained By Faith And Prayer, Only Recalled By Prayer And Plaint, Each Lost Day Has Its Patron Saint!

All Rights And Laws Are Still Transmitted, Like An Eternal Sickness To The Race. [ger., Es Erben Sich Gesetz And Rechte Wie Eine Ew'ge Krankheit Fort.]

It Is Impossible That Beauty Should Ever Distinctly Appreciate Itself.

Who Is The Wisest Man? He Who Neither Knows Or Wishes For Anything Else Than What Happens.

Who Enslaves Another's Manhood With Weak Human Power Alone, Lays A Heavier Yoke Of Bondage Thoughtlessly Upon His Own.

Opponents Fancy They Refute Us When They Repeat Their Own Opinion And Pay No Attention To Ours.

It Is A Mistake For A Taciturn, Serious-minded Woman To Marry A Jovial Man, But Not For A Serious-minded Man To Marry A Lighthearted Woman.

Hypotheses Are Lullabies For Teachers To Sing Their Students To Sleep.

I Reverence The Individual Who Understands Distinctly What He Wishes; Who Unweariedly Advances, Who Knows The Means Conducive To His Object, And Can Seize And Use Them.

The Worst Is That The Very Hardest Thinking Will Not Bring Thoughts. They Must Come Like Good Children Of God And Cry, "here We Are." You Expend Effort And Energy Thinking Hard. Then, After You Have Given Up, They Come Sauntering In With Their Hands In Their Pockets. If The Effort Had Not Been Made To Open The Door, However, Who Knows When They Could Have Come.

The Art Of Governing Is A Great Metier, Requiring The Whole Man, And It Is Therefore Not Well For A Ruler To Have Too Strong Tendencies For Other Affairs.

If You Wish To Know The Mind Of A Man, Listen To His Words.

There Is Nothing In Which People More Betray Their Character Than In What They Laugh At.

Thank God When He Lays A Burden On Thee, And Thank Him When He Takes It Off.

Objects In Pictures Should So Be Arranged As By Their Very Position To Tell Their Own Story.

Beware Of Her Fair Hair, For She Excels All Women In The Magic Of Her Locks; And When She Winds Them Round A Young Man's Neck, She Will Not Ever Set Him Free Again.

True Happiness Springs From Moderation. [ger., Aus Massigkeit Entspringt Ein Reines Gluck.]

Napoleon Affords Us An Example Of The Danger Of Elevating One's Self To The Absolute, And Sacrificing Everything To The Carrying Out Of An Idea.

Sacrificing Everything

As Long As You Don't Practice It, This Dying And Becoming, You Are Only A Dreary Guest On This Dark Earth.

The Highest Goal That Man Can Achieve Is Amazement.

Merely To Breathe Freely Does Not Mean To Live.

That Which Thy Fathers Have Bequeathed To Thee, Earn It Anew If Thou Wouldst Possess It.

If I Accept You As You Are, I Will Make You Worse; However, If I Treat You As Though You Are What You Are Capable Of Becoming, I Help You Become That.

Nothing Is More Odious Than The Majority, For It Consists Of A Few Powerful Leaders, A Certain Number Of Accommodating Scoundrels And Submissive Weaklings, And A Mass Of Men Who Trot After Them Without Thinking, Or Knowing Their Own Minds.

If You Are Convinced Of A Matter, You Must Take Sides Or You Don't Deserve To Succeed.

Where Is The Man Who Has The Strength To Be True, And To Show Himself As He Is?

Man's Highest Merit Always Is, As Much As Possible, To Rule External Circumstances And As Little As Possible To Let Himself Be Ruled By Them.

The Eternal Female Draws Us Onward.

Nature Is The Living, Visible Garment Of God.

The Affairs Of The World Are No More Than So Much Trickery, And A Man Who Toils For Money Or Honour Or Whatever Else In Deference To The Wishes Of Others, Rather Than Because His Own Desire Or Needs Lead Him To Do So, Will Always Be A Fool.

For To Give Is The Business Of The Rich. [lat., Denn Geben Ist Sache Des Reichen.]

Man Must Strive, And Striving He Must Err.

The Beginning Of Faith Is The Beginning Of Fruitfulness; But The Beginning Of Unbelief, However Glittering, Is Empty.

If You Want Someone To Develop A Specific Trait, Treat Them As Though They Already Had It.

Everything That We Call Invention Or Discovery In The Higher Sense Of The Word Is The Serious Exercise And Activity Of An Original Feeling For Truth, Which, After A Long Course Of Silent Cultivation, Suddenly Flashes Out Into Fruitful Knowledge.

Sin Writes Histories, Goodness Is Silent.

Children, Like Dogs, Have So Sharp And Fine A Scent That They Detect And Hunt Out Everything--the Bad Before All The Rest. They Also Know Well Enough How This Or That Friend Stands With Their Parents; And As They Practice No Dissimulation Whatever, They Serve As Excellent Barometers By Which To Observe The Degree Of Favor Or Disfavor At Which We Stand With Their Parents.

I Am Fully Convinced That The Soul Is Indestructible, And Its Activity Will Continue Through Eternity.

It Is Said That No Man Is A Hero To His Valet. That Is Because A Hero Can Be Recognized Only By A Hero.

Error Is Acceptable As Long As We Are Young; But One Must Not Drag It Along Into Old Age.

Alas! Sorrow From Happiness Is Oft Evolved.

You Are, When All Is Done-just What You Are.

We Have Time Enough If We But Use It Aright

English Plays, Atrocious In Content, Absurd In Form, Objectionable In Action, Execrable Englishtheatre.

Those Who Make Use Of Devotion As A Means And End Generally Are Hypocrites.

Love Is An Ideal Thing, Marriage A Real Thing

But When All Is Said, The Greatest Art Is To Limit And Isolate Oneself.

A Man Who Cannot Command Himself Will Always Be A Slave.

Plunge Boldly Into The Thick Of Life, And Seize It Where You Will, It Is Always Interesting.

We Can Stand Only A Certain Amount Of Unhappiness; Anything Beyond That Annihilates Us Or Passes Us By, Leaving Us Apathethetic.

What Do People Mean When They Talk About Unhappiness? It Is Not So Much Unhappiness As Impatience That From Time To Time Possesses Men, And Then They Choose To Call Themselves Miserable.

The Evil One Has Left, The Evil Ones Remain. [ger., Den Bosen Sind Sie Los, Die Bosen Sind Geblieben.]

What Reason Would Grope For In Vain, Spontaneous Impulse Ofttimes Achieves At A Stroke, With Light And Pleasureful Guidance.

I Never Knew A More Presumptuous Person Than Myself. The Fact That I Say That Shows That What I Say Is True.

Be Always Resolute With The Present Hour. Every Moment Is Of Infinite Value.

He Who Cannot Love Must Learn To Flatter.

There Is Nothing More Frightful Than An Active Ignorance. [ger., Es Ist Nichts Schrecklicher Als Eine Thatige Unwissenheit.]

He Who Moves Not Forward, Goes Backward.

Seize This Very Minute. What You Can Do Or Dream You Can Do, Begin It. Begin It And The Work Will Be Completed

Every Great Idea Exerts, On First Appearing, A Tyrannical Influence: Hence, The Advantages It Brings Are Turned All Too Soon Into Disadvantages.

The Decline Of Literature Indicates The Decline Of A Nation.

Nature Has Neither Core Nor Skin: She’s Both At Once Outside And In.

A Great Artist... Must Be Shaken By The Naked Truths That Will Not Be Comforted. This Divine Discontent, This Disequilibrium, This State Of Inner Tension Is The Source Of Artistic Energy.

The Sum Which Two Married People Owe To One Another Defies Calculation. It Is An Infinite Debt, Which Can Only Be Discharged Through All Eternity.

Hatred Is Active, And Envy Passive Dislike; There Is But One Step From Envy To Hate.

We Will Burn That Bridge When We Come To It.

Care Is Taken That Trees Do Not Grow Into The Sky.

I Have Learned Much From Disease Which Life Could Have Never Taught Me Anywhere Else.

Destiny Grants Us Our Wishes, But In Its Own Way, In Order To Give Us Something Beyond Our Wishes.

If Everyone Sweeps Before His Own Front Door, Then The Street Is Clean.

Some Of Our Weaknesses Are Born In Us, Others Are The Result Of Education; It Is A Question Which Of The Two Gives Us Most Trouble.

The Thinker Makes A Great Mistake When He Asks After Cause And Effect. They Both Together Make Up The Indivisible Phenomenon.

I Call Architecture Frozen Music.

In All Times It Is Only Individuals That Have Advanced Science, Not The Age.

Doubt Grows With Knowledge.

The Useful May Be Trusted To Further Itself, For Many Produce It And No One Can Do Without It; But The Beautiful Must Be Specially Encouraged, For Few Can Present It, While Yet All Have Need Of It.

Gray Is The Color Of All Theory

The Intelligent Man Finds Almost Everything Ridiculous, The Sensible Man Hardly Anything.

When Toward The Devil's Hose We Tread, Woman's A Thousand Steps Behind. [ger., Denn Geht Es Zu Des Bosen Haus Das Weib Hat Tausend Schritt Voraus.]

Vanity Is A Desire Of Personal Glory, The Wish To Be Appreciated, Honoured, And Run After, Not Because Of One's Personal Qualities, Merits, And Achievements, But Because Of One's Individual Existence. At Best, Therefore, It Is A Frivolous Beauty Whim It Befits.

Personal Qualities

The Hardest Thing Is To See What's Under Your Very Eyes.

If A Poet Would Work Politically, He Must Give Himself Up To A Party; And So Soon As He Does That, He Is Lost As A Poet.

Every Step Of Life Shows Much Caution Is Required.

There Are People Who Pay Attention To The Weaknesses Of Their Friends; That Is To No Avail. I Have Always Closely Watched And Profited From The Strengths Of My Adversaries.

The Greatest Happiness For The Thinking Person Is To Have Explored The Explorable And To Venerate In Equanimity That Which Cannotbe Explored.

One Usually Thinks People To Be More Dangerous Than They Are.

Whenever I Hear People Talking About Liberal Ideas, I Am Always Astounded That Men Should Love To Fool Themselves With Empty Sounds. An Idea Should Never Be Liberal; It Must Be Vigorous, Positive, And Without Loose Ends So That It May Fulfill Its Divine Mission And Be Productive.

What Is Not Fully Understood Is Not Possessed.

Music Is Either Sacred Or Secular. The Sacred Agrees With Its Dignity, And Here Has Its Greatest Effect On Life, An Effect That Remains The Same Through All Ages And Epochs. Secular Music Should Be Cheerful Throughout.

One Needs Only To Get Old To Become Milder; I Don't See Anyone Make A Mistake I Hadn't Also Made.

New Inventions Can And Will Be Made; However, Nothing New Can Be Thought Of That Concerns Moral Man. Everything Has Already Been Thought And Said Which At Best We Can Express In Different Forms And Give New Expressions To.

There Are Two Things Parents Should Give Their Children Roots And Wings. Roots To Give Them Bearing And A Sense Of Belonging, But Also Wings To Help Free Them From Constraints And Prejudices And Give Them Other Ways To Travel (or Rather, To Fly).

You Can Put Up With Everything In This World Except Not With A Long Stretch Of Beautiful Days.

In Politics As On A Sickbed Men Toss From Side To Side In Hope Of Lying More Comfortably.

Every Need Whose True Satisfaction Is Denied Leads By Necessity To Faith.

Nothing Is More Terrible Than To See Ignorance In Action.

To Create Something You Must Be Something.

Mental Strength

Just Begin And The Mind Grows Heated; Continue, And The Task Will Be Completed!

I Have So Much In Me, And The Feeling For Her Absorbs It All; I Have So Much, And Without Her It All Comes To Nothing.

Unrequited Love

The Assault Of Our Enemies Is Not Part Of Our Life; It Is Only Part Of Our Experience; We Throw It Off And Guard Ourselves Against It As Against Frost, Storm, Rain, Hail, Or Any Other Of The External Evils Which May Be Expected To Happen.

Be Generous With Kindly Words, Especially About Those Who Are Absent.

Investigate What Is, And Not What Pleases.

In Politics People Throw Themselves, As On A Sickbed, From One Side To The Other In The Belief They Will Lie More Comfortably.

My Peace Is Gone, My Heart Is Heavy. [ger., Meine Ruh Ist Hin, Mein Herz Ist Schwer.]

Where A Man Has A Passion For Meditating Without The Capacity Of Thinking, A Particular Idea Fixes Itself Fast, And Soon Creates A Mental Disease.

I Am What I Am, So Take Me As I Am!.

Take Me As I Am

I Love Those Who Yearn For The Impossible.

The Solution Of Every Problem Is Another Problem

If Thou Wouldst Hear What Seemly Is And Fit, Inquire Of Noble Woman; They Can Tell, Who In Life's Common Usage Hold Their Place By Graceful Deed And Aptly Chosen Word.

Man Believes Himself Always Greater Than He Is, And Is Esteemed Less Than He Is Worth.

Anecdotes And Maxims Are Rich Treasures To The Man Of The World, For He Knows How To Introduce The Former At Fit Place In Conversation.

Zweck Sein Selbst Ist Jegliches Tier. Each Animal Is An End In Itself.

The Miller Imagines That The Corn Grows Only To Make His Mill Turn.

The Proper Place For Liberality Is In The Realm Of The Emotions.

I Have Observed That As Long As One Lives And Bestirs Himself, He Can Always Find Food And Raiment, Though It May Not Be Of The Choicest Description.

A Man's Foibles Are What Makes Him Lovable.

My Worthy Friend, Gray Are All Theories And Green Alone Life's Golden Tree.

If In The Infinite You Want To Stride, Just Walk In The Finite To Every Side.

The Day Is Of Infinite Length For Him Who Knows How To Appreciate And Use It.

Error Is To Truth As Sleep Is To Waking. I Have Observed That One Turns, As If Refreshed, From Error Back To Truth.

Without Haste! Without Rest! Bind The Motto To Thy Breast! Bear It With Thee As A Spell; Storm Or Sunshine , Guard It Well.

We Must Not Hope To Be Mowers, And To Gather The Ripe Gold Ears, Unless We Have First Been Sowers And Water The Furrows With Tears. It Is Not Just As We Take It, This Mystical World Of Ours, Life's Field Will Yield As We Make It A Harvest Of Thorns Or Of Flowers.

It Is Sometimes Essential For A Husband And A Wife To Quarrel - They Get To Know Each Other Better.

To Make An Epoch In The World, Two Conditions Are Manifestly Essential-a Good Head And A Great Inheritance.

Unlike Grown Ups, Children Have Little Need To Deceive Themselves.

Experience Is Only Half Of Experience.

For The Nature Of A Women Is Closely Allied To Art. [ger., Denn Das Naturell Der Frauen Ist So Nah Mit Kunst Verwandt.]

The Eye Doesn't See Any Shapes, It Sees Only What Is Differentiated Through Light And Dark Or Through Colors.

It Is A Misfortune To Pass At Once From Observation To Conclusion, And To Regard Both As Of Equal Value; But It Befalls Many A Student.

If The Word Is Not Dead When It Reaches The Hearer, He Murders It At Once By A Contradiction, A Stipulation, A Condition, A Digression, An Interruption, And All The Thousand Tricks Of Conversation.

To Quit Smoking, You Must First Want To Quit, But Then You Must Also Do The Quitting

Sceptics Are Yet The Most Credulous.

Poetry Is The Universal Possession Of Mankind, Revealing Itself Everywhere, And At All Times, In Hundreds And Hundreds Of Men.

I Have Possessed That Heart, That Noble Soul, In Whose Presence I Seemed To Be More Than I Really Was, Because I Was All That I Could Be.

The Ideal Of Beauty Is Simplicity And Tranquility.

The Most Difficult Thing Is What Is Thought To Be The Simplest; To Really See The Things Which Are Before Your Eyes.

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