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.

Just don't take any class where you have to read BEOWULF.

Just don't take any class where you have to read BEOWULF.

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.

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.

A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke.

A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke.

There is no human reason why a child should not admire and emulate his teacher's ability to do sums, rather read more

There is no human reason why a child should not admire and emulate his teacher's ability to do sums, rather than the village bum's ability to whittle sticks and smoke cigarettes. The reason why the child does not is plain enough -- the bum has put himself on an equality with him and the teacher has not.

Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.

Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.

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"),

First he wrought, and afterward he taught.

First he wrought, and afterward he taught.