They rendered visible the invisible, and were concerned with possessing the world.

Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night

Hermetic quote Manguel Library rendered

Consider also:

  1. Love
  2. “We know that even the elementary and superficial secrets of the Order must not be communicated to unqualified persons, and the reason for this injunction is not so much because those secrets have any special value, but because that silence is intended to be typical of that which applies to the greater, deeper secrets, some of which, for appropriate reasons, must not be communicated, and some of which indeed are not communicable at all, because they transcend the power of communication.”
  3. Lives of the Great Occultists
  4. “His heart did not shine with love or service.”
  5. “Marching diverts men’s thoughts. Marching kills thought. Marching makes an end of individuality. Marching is the indispensable magic stroke performed in order to accustom the people to a mechanical, quasi-ritualistic activity until it becomes second nature.”