He expressed himself thus: "I have
heard that love is the origin of beauty; but I cannot agree with this
opinion. What human being knows what love is? Who has ever contemplated
it with any idea of thought? Who has ever seen it with the eye? Let such
a one tell me where it is to be found. But I assert that wisdom is the
origin of beauty; in women a wisdom which lies concealed and stored up
in the inmost principles of the mind, in men a wisdom which manifests
itself, and is apparent. Whence is a man (_homo_) a man but from wisdom?
Were it not so, a man would be a statue or a picture. What does a maiden
attend to in a youth, but the quality of his wisdom; and what does a
youth attend to in a maiden, but the quality of her affection of his
wisdom? By wisdom I mean genuine morality; because this is the wisdom of
life. Hence it is, that when wisdom which lies concealed, approaches and
embraces wisdom which is manifest, as is the case interiorly in the
spirit of each, they mutually kiss and unite, and this is called love;
and in such case each of the parties appears beautiful to the other.
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