Excellent man! Since it was my honest intention to reconcile, I believed I could strike out freely right and left. Now you show me where real reconciliation is to be found, where there is no possibility of wounding! Might I suppose that a truly noble man, conscious of his own virtue, would really not feel wounded by me and my opinions, and could I, upon this supposition alone, feel it within the bounds of decorum to approach you, as I have recently done, with my letters, it is yet for no other reason than my own weakness that I now confess to you that I never really knew you and your worth till I received from you the reassurance which Edward Devrient has just brought me. One wish remains in the depths of my soul: were all men like you! I hope this hasty word may serve to show you what the effect has been on me of this news from you!
P.S. This time I have forgotten “Excellency” and everything of the kind! Forgive me - could not write otherwise! I
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 142