The first Man is the first Spirit-seer; all appears to him as Spirit. What are children, but first men? The fresh gaze of the Child is richer in significance than the forecasting of the most indubitable Seer.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Children possess an innate spiritual vision that surpasses the calculated predictions of even the most certain seers.
- In plain terms
- A child's fresh perspective holds more truth than an expert's forecast.
- What can you take from it?
- Trust innate wonder over calculated prediction.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What can we learn from a child's way of seeing?
- How often do we lose our natural spiritual vision?
Another view
It idealizes childhood while ignoring the lack of experience children have.
More from Novalis
Nature is an ?olian Harp, a musical instrument; whose tones again are keys to higher strings in us.
Permalink to quote #61 It depends only on the weakness of our organs and of our self-excitement (Selbstberuhrung), that we do not see ourselves in a Fairy-world. All Fabulous Tales (…
Permalink to quote #63 Plants are Children of the Earth; we are Children of the ?ther. Our Lungs are properly our Root; we live, when we breathe; we begin our life with breathing.
Permalink to quote #60
Related quotes
The most unfathomable schools and sages have never attained to the gravity which dwells in the eyes of a baby of three months old. It is the gravity of astonis…
Gilbert Keith ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton quote #62 When you say to a child 'Bedtime, it's bedtime now' that's not what the child hears. What the child hears is 'Go and lie down in the dark... for hours... and d…
Dylan MoranDylan Moran quote #30 The humorous look of children is perhaps the most endearing of all the bonds that hold the Cosmos together. Their top-heavy dignity is more touching than any h…
Gilbert Keith ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton quote #67