Norton Classics website

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"I don't quite know what Goethe meant by demonic influence .. . but this much is clear: if something of the sort exists, you exert it over me. I think if you seriously proposed that I become a good mathematician I would have no particular difficulty in doing so, just as I might stop being able to make music tomorrow, if you thought I couldn't do it anymore. Therefore be very careful with me."

- letter to her brother Felix