Grillparzer and Hebbel
It would be hard to find two more different natures than those two authors and poets. Hebbel was a giant, full of self-consciousness and spiritual pride, classing himself with Shakespeare. Grillparzer was simple, painfully modest and retiring.
While both were at Vienna, Grillparzer was invited to meet Hebbel, at an evening company, which honor he declined with the following words:
“I have a great respect for what he writes, but, you see, I don’t feel at home near him. I am truly afraid of him. He is too clever for me. He often starts queer subjects to converse about. He is, for instance, fully capable of asking you: ‘What is God?’ Well, I don’t know, but he does. Now, since I cannot argue with him, I should have to sit there like a mute.”