Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense

32 Humboldt to Varnhagen

Sunday, October 22d, 1837.
        Six o’clock, A. M.

I find after a week’s residence in Potsdam, which has very much discouraged me, your amiable souvenir. Receive, revered friend, this very evening, my warmest thanks; you have praised me for my most cherished aim, which is, that I may not become a fossil, as long as I move, and cling to the belief, “that nature has put her curse upon stagnancy and inertia.” Youth is the symbol of progress, and those, who rule now (the Berlin world’s elephants) sont des momies en service extraordinaire.

Good night,
          A. Humboldt.