The magician Virgil has himself cut into pieces and put into a kettle to be boiled for a week, in order to… — Søren Kierkegaard

The magician Virgil has himself cut into pieces and put into a kettle to be boiled for a week, in order to renew his youth. He hired a man to stand watch so that no intruder would peep into the caldron. But the watchman could not resist the temptation; it was too early, Virgil vanished with a cry like a little child. I, too, have doubtless peeped to soon into the kettle, the title of life and its historical development, and will probably never be able to become anything more than a child.

p. 26Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0