GEORGE HENRY LEWES QUOTES II
English philosopher & literary critic (1817-1878)
In urging all writers to be steadfast in reliance on the ultimate victory of excellence, we should no less strenuously urge upon them to beware of the intemperate arrogance which attributes failure to a degraded condition of the public mind. The instinct which leads the world to worship success is not dangerous. The book which succeeds accomplishes its aim. The book which fails may have many excellencies, but they must have been misdirected.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
If I advance new views in Philosophy or Theology, I cannot expect to have many adherents among minds altogether unprepared for such views; yet it is certain that even those who most fiercely oppose me will recognize the power of my voice if it is not a mere echo; and the very novelty will challenge attention, and at last gain adherents if my views have any real insight.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
Love defies all calculation. We are not judicious in love; we do not select those whom we ought to love, but those whom we cannot help loving.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
attributed, Proust Was a Neuroscientist
The art of writing is not, as many seem to imagine, the art of bringing fine phrases into rhythmical order, but the art of placing before the reader intelligible symbols of the thoughts and feelings in the writer's mind.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
The intensity of vision in the artist and of vividness in his creations are the sole tests of his imaginative power.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
The moral nature of man is more sacred in my eyes than his intellectual nature. I know they cannot be divorced -- that without intelligence we should be brutes -- but it is the tendency of our gaping, wondering dispositions to give pre-eminence to those faculties which most astonish us. Strength of character seldom, if ever, astonishes; goodness, lovingness, and quiet self-sacrifice, are worth all the talents in the world.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
Rose, Blanche, and Violet
Instead, therefore, of saying that Man is the creature of Circumstance, it would be nearer the mark to say that Man is the architect of Circumstance. It is Character which builds an existence out of Circumstance. Our strength is measured by our plastic power. From the same materials one man builds palaces, another hovels, one warehouses, another villas.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Life and Works of Goethe
It will often be a question when a man is or is not wise in advancing unpalatable opinions, or in preaching heresies; but it can never be a question that a man should be silent if unprepared to speak the truth as he conceives it.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
To some men popularity is always suspicious. Enjoying none themselves, they are prone to suspect the validity of those attainments which command it.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Spanish Drama
Shakespeare is a good raft whereon to float securely down the stream of time; fasten yourself to that and your immortality is safe.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
On Actors and the Art of Acting
The air is crowded with birds -- beautiful, tender, intelligent birds -- to whom life is a song.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
Studies in Animal Life
Love is blind; couch not his eyes.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
Ranthorpe
There are many justifications of silence; there can be none of insincerity.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
I am suspicious without a motive, and jealous without love; although I feel I ought to love since I desire to be loved.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Spanish Drama
I have always considered The Merry Wives one of the worst plays, if not altogether the worst, that Shakespeare has left us. The wit for the most part is dreary or foolish; the tone is coarse and farcical; and the characters want the fine distinctive touches he so well knew how to give. If some luckless wight had written such a comedy in our time, I should like to see what the critics would say to it?
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
Dramatic Essays
Those works alone can have enduring success which successfully appeal to what is permanent in human nature -- which, while suiting the taste of the day, contain truths and beauty deeper than the opinions and tastes of the day.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
Science is the systematic classification of experience.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Physical Basis of Mind
Whatever you believe to be true and false, that proclaim to be true and false; whatever you think admirable and beautiful, that should be your model, even if all your friends and all the critics storm at you as a crotchet-monger and an eccentric.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
Except in the rare cases of great dynamic thinkers whose thoughts are as turning-points in the history of our race, it is by Style that writers gain distinction, by Style they secure their immortality.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature
Originality is independence, not rebellion; it is sincerity, not antagonism.
GEORGE HENRY LEWES
The Principles of Success in Literature