omnia praeclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt
All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare -Spinoza, Ethics, v, 42
As for what ‘begins’ then – ‘beyond’ absolute knowledge – unheard-of thoughts are required, sought for across the memory of old signs. (Jacques Derrida, Speech and Phenomena, Northwestern University Press, 102–3).
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, c.1963 – Marc Chagall
There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in (Leonard Cohen)