Yet ah! why should they know their fate?Since sorrow never comes too late,And happiness too swiftly flies.Thought would destroy their read more

Yet ah! why should they know their fate?Since sorrow never comes too late,And happiness too swiftly flies.Thought would destroy their paradise.No more; where ignorance is bliss,'Tis folly to be wise. - Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.

Literature, the most seductive, the most deceiving, the most dangerous of professions.

Literature, the most seductive, the most deceiving, the most dangerous of professions.

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

For me, literature is a complex game, both mental and concrete, which is acted out in a physical manner on read more

For me, literature is a complex game, both mental and concrete, which is acted out in a physical manner on the page.rn

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.

The republic of letters.
[Fr., La republique des lettres.]

The republic of letters.
[Fr., La republique des lettres.]

Housework is a breeze. Cooking is a pleasant diversion. Putting up a retaining wall is a lark. But teaching is read more

Housework is a breeze. Cooking is a pleasant diversion. Putting up a retaining wall is a lark. But teaching is like climbing a mountain.

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

Perish those who said our good things before we did.

Perish those who said our good things before we did.