Accuse not nature, she hath done her part;Do thou but thine, and be not diffidentOf wisdom, she deserts thee not, read more

Accuse not nature, she hath done her part;Do thou but thine, and be not diffidentOf wisdom, she deserts thee not, if thouDismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,By attributing overmuch to thingsLess excellent, as thou thyself perceivest. - Paradise Lost.

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.

Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

English literature is a kind of training in social ethics. English trains you to handle a body of information in read more

English literature is a kind of training in social ethics. English trains you to handle a body of information in a way that is conducive to action.

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

Just as it is true that a stream cannot rise above its source, so it is true that a national read more

Just as it is true that a stream cannot rise above its source, so it is true that a national literature cannot rise above the moral level of the social conditions of the people from whom it derives its inspiration.

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery and primitive music and primitive read more

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery and primitive music and primitive medicine.

People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with the bad.

People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with the bad.