Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.
Literature is news that stays news.
There is no reason why the same man should like the same books at eighteen and at forty-eight
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet black bough.
And the days are not full enough And the nights are not full enough And life slips by like a field mouse Not shaking the grass
Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.
Speak against unconscious oppression, Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative, Speak against bonds.
No man understands a deep book until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents.
Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing. The rest is mere sheep herding.
A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever.
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
Rhythm must have meaning.
The artist is always beginning. Any work of art which is not a beginning, an invention, a discovery is of little worth.
What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage
With one day's reading a man may have the key in his hands.
Glance is the enemy of vision.
This is no book. Whoever touches this touches a man.
A real building is one on which the eye can light and stay lit.
The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension.
It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
I have tried to write Paradise Do not move Let the wind speak that is paradise. Let the Gods forgive what I have made Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.
The temple is holy because it is not for sale
When words cease to cling close to things, kingdoms fall, empires wane and diminish.
Good art however "immoral" is wholly a thing of virtue. Good art can not be immoral. By good art I mean art that bears true witness, I mean the art that is most precise.
The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation.
The serious artist must be as open as nature. Nature does not give all of herself in a paragraph. She is rugged and not set apart into discreet categories.
Man reading ought to be a man intensely alive. The book ought to be a ball of light in his hands.
I would hold the rosy, slender fingers of the dawn for you.
Nothing written for pay is worth printing. Only what has been written against the market.
Small talk comes from small bones
Anyone who is too lazy to master the comparatively small glossary necessary to understand Chaucer deserves to be shut out from the reading of good books forever.
Don't be blinded by the theorists and a lying press.
What thou lovest well remains,
Adolf Hitler was a Jeanne d'Arc, a saint. He was a martyr.
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The thought of what America would be like If the Classics had a wide circulation Troubles my sleep (Cantico del Sole)
Nothing matter but the quality/ of the affection—/in the end—that has carved the trace in the mind dove sta memoria
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
What thou lovest well remains. The rest is dross.
The eyes of this dead lady speak to me For here was love, was not to be drowned out. And here desire, not to be kissed away. The eyes of this dead lady speak to me.
Where the dead walked and the living were made of cardboard.
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Come, let us pity those who are better off than we are. Come, my friend, and remember that the rich have butlers and no friends, And we have friends and no butlers. (excerpt from 'The Garrett')
Pay no attention to the criticism of men who have never themselves written a notable work. --Ezra Pound
Fundamental accuracy of statement is the ONE sole morality of writing.
A people that grows accustomed to sloppy writing is a people in process of losing grip on its empire and on itself.
You have been second always. Tragical? No. You preferred it to the usual thing: One dull man, dulling and uxorious, One average mind- with one thought less, each year.
Literature is language charged with meaning.
As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion, O my much praised but-not-altogether-satisfactory lady.
When I carefully consider the curious habits of dogs I am compelled to conclude That man is the superior animal. When I consider the curious habits of man I confess, my friend, I am puzzled
