In Guenzburg we find the artistic temperament developed to a degree rare
among Hebraists of even more recent years. He wrote only in moments of
inspiration. At times he passed weeks and months without penning a line,
but when once aroused he wrote unceasingly until he finished what he had
begun. He was careful in the choice of his words, careful in the choice
of his books, and would recommend nothing but the best. "I may not have
genius enough," he would say, "to distinguish between better and best,
but I do not lack common sense, to differentiate tares from weeds."
Above all, he possessed a sense of honor, the greatest stimulus, as he
maintained, to noble endeavors. "For as marriage is necessary to
perpetuate the race, and food to sustain the individual, so is honor to
the existence of the superior man."
Of the fifty years of his active life more than one-half was spent in
literary labor. His books obtained a wide circulation, and, though they
were rather expensive, became rare soon after their publication. Yet,
strange to say, this eminent Hebraist seldom, if ever, lauds the
beauties of the "daughter of Eber" (Hebrew) like his fellow-Maskilim
since the days of the Meassefim, nor does he even think it incumbent on
a Jew to be conversant with it.
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