One has at most the same feeling for it as for a mirror in which one sees oneself reflected.

The sea is a blank page, which each one fills up with whatever he happens to have in his own mind, or, if you like it better, a frame into which one puts pictures of one's own imagining.

I grant that you can dream by the side of the sea, for it does nothing to disturb your dreams or give them any particular bent or coloring.

But can it give the impulse to thought and emotion like the eve-changing outlines of mountain and forest?
Never! People with unsophisticated minds know that well enough.

The population of the coast always builds its houses with their backs to the sea.
"As a defence against the storms," Wilhelm interposed.
"That may be.