There was once in man a true ...

There was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present.
There was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present.

Quotes from the same author

We are all something, but none of us are everything.
The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.
Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world.
Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.
The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.