heard the mermaids singing, each to each
"For when Diotima said: “What do the affairs of the world amount to? Un peu de bruit autour de notre âme …,” he felt a tremor go through the edifice of his life."

—

pg. 426 of The Man Without Qualities Vol. 1 by Robert Musil, translated from the German by Sophie Wilkins

google translate the french, it’s awesome