14. The Development of the German Soul

That is the difference between the people of Central Europe and the surrounding nations. That is the difference that must be borne in mind if one wants to understand how this German national soul developed further. How closely it still felt connected to what was around it! How it has in a certain way brought back what had first flowed out of Central Europe! How Italian art flows back from Italianism, and one does not need to be a racial fanatic to describe this, how the spirit of Dante flows back into what is the nature of the German folk soul! How French essence flows back, how British essence flows back! It has flowed into our days in a way that I have often hinted at here. Thus we see that this peculiarity lies in the development of the German soul. It remains in Central Europe, it creates an environment for itself and interacts with this environment. Through this, I would like to say, it fertilizes that which, because of its extended character, is only visible in individual shades.