“To know another language is to have a second soul. ”
“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
“To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head, you can go there anytime, you can close the door, you have a refuge.”
“How it is that animals understand things I do not know, but it is certain that they do understand. Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words and everything in the world understands it. Perhaps there is a soul hidden in everything and it can always speak, without even making a sound, to another soul.”
“Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate. ”
“Split second glimpses into souls are all I have managed to find.”