It was entitled "Letters of a Dead Musician." "You will find clear gems of thought, passion, and feeling in this book," said Cellini; "and being a musician yourself, you will know how to appreciate them.

The writer was one of those geniuses whose work the world repays with ridicule and contempt.

There is no fate more enviable!" I looked at the artist with some surprise as I took the volume he recommended, and seated myself in the position he indicated; and while he busied himself in arranging the velvet curtains behind me as a background, I said: "Do you really consider it enviable, Signor Cellini, to receive the world's ridicule and contempt ?" "I do indeed," he replied, "since it is a certain proof that the world does not understand you.

To achieve something that is above human comprehension, THAT is greatness.

To have the serene sublimity of the God-man Christ, and consent to be crucified by a gibing world that was fated to be afterwards civilized and dominated by His teachings, what can be more glorious?
To have the magnificent versatility of a Shakespeare, who was scarcely recognized in his own day, but whose gifts were so vast and various that the silly multitudes wrangle over his very identity and the authenticity of his plays to this hour--what can be more triumphant?
To know that one's own soul can, if strengthened and encouraged by the force of will, rise to a supreme altitude of power--is not that sufficient to compensate for the little whining cries of the common herd of men and women who have forgotten whether they ever had a spiritual spark in them, and who, straining up to see the light of genius that burns too fiercely for their earth-dimmed eyes, exclaim: 'WE see nothing, therefore there CAN be nothing.' Ah, mademoiselle, the knowledge of one's own inner Self-Existence is a knowledge surpassing all the marvels of art and science!" Cellini spoke with enthusiasm, and his countenance seemed illumined by the eloquence that warmed his speech.