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.

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

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

First he wrought, and afterward he taught.

First he wrought, and afterward he taught.

You can't teach a hunter it's wrong to kill.

You can't teach a hunter it's wrong to kill.

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

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

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the
literature of power. The function of the first is--to read more

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"),

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.

If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no read more

If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet. A majority by definition, society thinks of itself as having other options than reading verses, no matter how well written. Its failure to do so results in its sinking to that level of locution at which society falls easy prey to a demagogue or a tyrant. This is society's own equivalent of oblivion.