Georg Brandes

I was at home then in the world of figures, but not in that of values.

But I did not find any positive inspiration in my studies until I approached my nineteenth year.

Among the delights of Summer were picnics to the woods.

I was a town child, it is true, but that did not prevent me enjoying open-air life, with plants and animals.

My first experiences of academic friendship made me smile in after years when I looked back on them. But my circle of acquaintances had gradually grown so large that it was only natural new friendships should grow out of it.

Birth was something that came quite unexpectedly, and afterwards there was one child more in the house.

I encountered among my comrades the most varied human traits, from frankness to reserve, from goodness, uprightness and kindness, to brutality and baseness.

The stream of time sweeps away errors, and leaves the truth for the inheritance of humanity.

I did not know what it was to be happy for a whole day at a time, scarcely for an hour.

Just about this time, when in imagination I was so great a warrior, I had good use in real life for more strength, as I was no longer taken to school by the nurse, but instead had myself to protect my brother, two years my junior.