There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the
literature of power. The function of the first is--to teach; the
function of the second is--to move, the first is a rudder, the
second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive
understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to
the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections
of pleasure and sympathy.
- Thomas De Quincey ("The Opium Eater"),
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Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
One learns little more about a man from his feats of literary memory than from the feats of his alimentary read more
One learns little more about a man from his feats of literary memory than from the feats of his alimentary canal.
I am never long, even in the society of her I love, without yearning for the company of my lamp read more
I am never long, even in the society of her I love, without yearning for the company of my lamp and my library.
Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.
Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.
All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain
called "Huckleberry Finn."
All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain
called "Huckleberry Finn."
The poets did well to conjoin music and medicine, because the office of medicine is but to tune the curious read more
The poets did well to conjoin music and medicine, because the office of medicine is but to tune the curious harp of man's body.
The death of Dr. Hudson is a loss to the republick of letters.
The death of Dr. Hudson is a loss to the republick of letters.
The average Ph.D thesis is nothing but the transference of bones from one graveyard to another.
The average Ph.D thesis is nothing but the transference of bones from one graveyard to another.
Five miles meandering with mazy motion, Through dale the sacred
river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, read more
Five miles meandering with mazy motion, Through dale the sacred
river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank
the tumult to a lifeless ocean: And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard
from far Ancestral voices prophesying war!
