Mysteries force a man to think, and so injure his health.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that pondering over complex mysteries can lead to detrimental effects on one's mental health.
Edgar Allan Poe's quote reflects on the burden that mysteries place on human consciousness. The act of confronting and pondering life's enigmas can become overwhelming, causing stress and anxiety that may ultimately affect an individual's well-being. It highlights the intellectual struggle that many face when grappling with unanswered questions and the potential toll it takes on health.
In practice
In a philosophical discussion about the impact of unresolved questions on mental well-being.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
...for whether we want to or not, we belong to our time and we share in its opinions, its feelings, even its delusions.
I don't think one can write from a compromised moral position.
A dance is the devil's procession, and he that entereth into a dance, entereth into his possession.
Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls. Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment of age.
Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.
I believe that a guarantee of public access to government information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless.
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