The best emotions to write out of are anger and fear or dread. . . . The least energizing emotion read more

The best emotions to write out of are anger and fear or dread. . . . The least energizing emotion to write out of is admiration . . . because the basic feeling that goes with admiration is a passive contemplative mood.

Distance is a great promoter of admiration!

Distance is a great promoter of admiration!

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed read more

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a perpetual succession of miracles rising into view.

"Not to admire, is all the art I know
(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)
read more

"Not to admire, is all the art I know
(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)
To make men happy, or to keep them so."
(So take it in the very words of Creech)
Thus Horace wrote we all know long ago;
And thus Pope quotes the precept to re-teach
From his translation; but had none admired,
Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired?

Admiration and familiarity are strangers.

Admiration and familiarity are strangers.

Some people are molded by their admirations, others by their hostilities.

Some people are molded by their admirations, others by their hostilities.

The king himself has follow'd her
When she has walk'd before.

The king himself has follow'd her
When she has walk'd before.

Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt.

Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt.

Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, read more

Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.