Jakob Böhme

“ But now the Will may be broken, for when a stronger comes, and raises his inward Signature with his introduced Sound and Will’s-Spirit, then its upper Dominion loses the Power, Right, and Authority, which we see in the powerful Influence of the Sun, how that by its Strength it qualifies a bitter and sour Fruit, turning it into a Sweetness and Pleasantness; in like Manner how a good Man corrupts among Evil Company, and also how that a good Herb cannot sufficiently shew its real genuine Virtue in a bad Soil ”

“ So soon as Man is born into this World, his Spirit plays upon his Instrument, so that his innate genuine Form [or Signature] in Good or Evil is seen by his Words and Conversation; for as his Instrument Sounds, accordingly the Senses and Thoughts proceed from the Essence of the Mind, and so the external Spirit of the Will is carried in its Behaviour, as is to be seen both in Men and Beasts ”

“ As we know it in the Power and Form of this World, how the one only Essence has manifested itself with the external Birth in the Desire of the Similitude, how it has manifested itself in so many Forms and shapes, which we see and know in the Stars and Elements, likewise in the living Creatures, and also in the Trees and Herbs. ”

“ As his Instrument was set in the Time of his Incarnation, so it Sounds, and so is his Knowledge, the inward manifests itself in the Sound of the Word, for that is the Mind's natural Knowledge of itself. ”

“ By this we know, that all human Properties proceed from one; that they all have but one only Root and Mother; otherwise one Man could not understand another in the Sound, for with the Sound or Speech the Form notes and imprints itself into the Similitude of another; a like Tone or Sound catches and moves another, and in the Sound the Spirit imprints its own Similitude, which it has conceived in the Essence, and brought to Form in the Principle. ”