" A MERCHANT’S SON, a young man and very handsome who had neither father nor mother, grew weary of society and social intercourse soon after his twenty-fifth year. [...] Yet he was by no means a recluse; on the contrary, he enjoyed strolling through the streets or public gardens and observing people’s faces. Nor did he neglect the care of his body and fine hands or the decor of his residence; indeed, the beauty of the carpets and fabrics and silks, the carved and paneled walls, the metal sconces and ba- sins, the glass and earthenware vessels had acquired a never imagined significance. He gradually came to see how all the shapes and colors in the world lived in his artifacts. In the intricacies of the ornaments he discerned an enchanted image of the intricate wonders of the world. [...] Yet he likewise felt the vanity of all these things as much as their beauty, nor did the thought of death leave him for long: it would visit him amidst laughing, boisterous crowds, often in the night, often at table." 
 
Hofmannsthal, Hugo von, and J. D McClatchy. The Whole Difference : Selected Writings of Hugo Von Hofmannsthal. Princeton University Press, 2008. p. 39-40.