“Mr. Mundy, music is not your refuge. Maybe later, when you have experienced the emotions that music describes, it will become a refuge for you. But we cannot be sure. So maybe better for now you take refuge in language. To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head, you can go there any time, you can close the door, you have a refuge.”
(John Lecarré’s Absolute Friends)