Aesthetics Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion. … Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. Le Chemin de Velours,” sct. 2, “Success and the Idea of Beauty” (1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Art Waugh on Crime And Criminals Criticism and the Arts The whole effort of a sincere man is to erect his personal impressions into laws. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. Quoted in: John Middleton Murry, Countries of the Mind,“A Critical Credo” (1922). Murry called this statement, “the motto of a true criticism, conscious of its limitations and its strengths.” See also: Criticism Literary Criticism Vorster on South Africa Wilde on Technique Definition The human mind is so complex and things are so tangled up with each other that, to explain a blade of straw, one would have to take to pieces an entire universe. … A definition is a sack of flour compressed into a thimble. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “Glory and the Idea of Immortality,” sct. 1 (published in Le Chemin de Velours, 1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). Education We live less and less, and we learn more and more. Sensibility is surrendering to intelligence. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Value of Education,” in Le Chemin de Velours (1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Montagu on Daughters English Proverb on Gentlemen Hughes on Play Trevelyan on Reading School Students Teachers Universities And Colleges Emerson on Upbringing Existence Nothing exists except by virtue of a disequilibrium, an injustice. All existence is a theft paid for by other existences; no life flowers except on a cemetery. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Dissociation of Ideas” (1899; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). Individuality Each man must grant himself the emotions that he needs and the morality that suits him. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “Success and the Idea of Beauty,” sct. 3 (published in Le Chemin de Velours, 1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Cocteau on Criticism Industry Industry has operated against the artisan in favor of the idler, and also in favor of capital and against labor. Any mechanical invention whatsoever has been more harmful to humanity than a century of war. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Value of Education” (published in Le Chemin de Velours, 1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). Prejudice Man associates ideas not according to logic or verifiable exactitude, but according to his pleasure and interests. It is for this reason that most truths are nothing but prejudices. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Dissociation of Ideas” (1899; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Hazlitt on Custom Twain on History Figes on Logic Proust on Paradox Science Science is the only truth and it is the great lie. It knows nothing, and people think it knows everything. It is misrepresented. People think that science is electricity, automobilism, and dirigible balloons. It is something very different. It is life devouring itself. It is the sensibility transformed into intelligence. It is the need to know stifling the need to live. It is the genius of knowledge vivisecting the vital genius. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “Art and Science,” in Promenades Philosophiques (1905–9; repr. in Selected Writings, ed./tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Huxley on Books Chemistry Lamb on The Cosmos Engineering Huxley on Experts Bronowski on Nature Physics Lichtenberg on Preaching Shaw on Problems Wilde on Religion Scientists The Social Sciences Technology Sensation Life is a series of sensations connected to different states of consciousness. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Value of Education,” in Le Chemin de Velours (1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). Truth Man, in spite of his tendency towards mendacity, has a great respect for what he calls the truth. Truth is his staff in his voyage through life; commonplaces are the bread in his bag and the wine in his jug. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Dissociation of Ideas” (1899; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Keats on Beauty Huxley on Common Sense Brookner on Confession Voltaire on The Dead Arnold on Death And Dying Daumal on Error Hugo on Exaggeration Lichtenberg on Fashion Johnson on Freedom Of Speech Hazlitt on Injury Byron on Lies And Lying Galbraith on The Majority Murdoch on Moralists Scott on Newspapers And Magazines Hegel on Originality Chesterfield on Ridicule Understanding If the secret of being a bore is to tell all, the secret of pleasing is to say just enough to be—not understood, but divined. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “On Style and Writing,” sct. 6, in La Culture des Idées (1900; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Intelligibility Women and the Arts Since art is the expression of beauty and beauty can be understood only in the form of the material elements of the true idea it contains, art has become almost uniquely feminine. Beauty is woman, and also art is woman. Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Dissociation of Ideas” (1899; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Glen S. Burne, 1966). See also: Woolf on Writing Curiosity Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life blood of real civilisation. G. M. Trevelyan (1876–1962), British historian. English Social History, Introduction (1942). History Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out. G. M. Trevelyan (1876–1962), British historian. English Social History, Introduction (1942). See also: Emerson on Biography Emerson on Minorities Camus on Nostalgia Johnson on Slander De Gaulle on Solitude Eliot on Women Reading Education … has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading, an easy prey to sensations and cheap appeals. G. M. Trevelyan (1876–1962), British historian. English Social History, ch. 18 (1942). See also: Lichtenberg on Barbarism Bacon on Books Thomas à Kempis on Books Smith on Criticism And The Arts Grimké on Prayer Chandler on The Public Universities and Colleges Socrates gave no diplomas or degrees, and would have subjected any disciple who demanded one to a disconcerting catechism on the nature of true knowledge. G. M. Trevelyan (1876–1962), British historian. History of England, bk. 2, ch. 4 (1926). Slander A man calumniated is doubly injured—first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it. Herodotus (c. 484–c. 425 BC), Greek historian. Artabanus, in Histories, bk. 7 (c. 430 BC), said of the disparagement of the Greeks by Mardonius. Backbite. To “speak of a man as you find him” when he can’t find you. Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914), U.S. author. The Devil’s Dictionary (1881–1906). Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1, berating Ophelia. I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has? Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintances. Benjamin Franklin (1706–90), U.S. statesman, writer. Complete Works, vol. 1, “Miscellaneous Observations” (ed. by John Bigelow, 1887–88). I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true. Truman Capote (1924–84), U.S. author. Interview with David Frost published in The Americans,“When Does a Writer Become a Star?” (1970). I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they will stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965), U.S. Democratic politician. Campaign speech, 1952 Quoted in: Leon Harris, The Fine Art of Political Wit, ch. 10 (1964). In the speech, Stevenson attributes the remark first to Republican Chauncey Depew, though with the party-names reversed. If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written. Samuel Johnson (1709–84), English author, lexicographer. Quoted in: James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, 3 April 1776 (1791). If you know somebody is going to be awfully annoyed by something you write, that’s obviously very satisfying, and if they howl with rage or cry, that’s honey. A. N. Wilson (b. 1950), British author. Quoted in: Independent on Sunday (London, 13 Sept. 1992). It is harder to kill a whisper than even a shouted calumny. Mary Stewart (b. 1916), British novelist. The Last Enchantment, bk. 1, ch. 1 (1979). It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one behind one’s back that are absolutely and entirely true. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. Lord Henry, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 15 (1891). The words reappeared in A Woman of No Importance, act 1. Our disputants put me in mind of the scuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him till he becomes invisible. Joseph Addison (1672–1719), English essayist. Spectator, no. 476 (London, 5 Sept. 1712). Slander-mongers and those who listen to slander, if I had my way, would all be strung up, the talkers by the tongue, the listeners by the ears. Plautus (254–184 BC), Roman playwright. Callipho, in Pseudolus, act 1, sc. 5. The slanders poured down like Niagara. If you take into consideration the setting—the war and the revolution—and the character of the accused—revolutionary leaders of millions who were conducting their party to the sovereign power—you can say without exaggeration that July 1917 was the month of the most gigantic slander in world history. Leon Trotsky (1879–1940), Russian revolutionary. The History of the Russian Revolution, vol. 2, ch. 4 (1933). To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–45), U.S. poet, critic, short-story writer. Marginalia, in Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond, Va., July 1849; repr. in Essays and Reviews, 1984). What is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. De Profundis (1905), a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas following the scandal that ruined Wilde. Education In my early life, and probably even today, it is not sufficiently understood that a child’s education should include at least a rudimentary grasp of religion, sex, and money. Without a basic knowledge of these three primary facts in a normal human being’s life—subjects which stir the emotions, create events and opportunities, and if they do not wholly decide must greatly influence an individual’s personality—no human being’s education can have a safe foundation. Phyllis Bottome (1884–1963), Anglo-American novelist. Search for a Soul, ch. 9 (1947). See also: Montagu on Daughters English Proverb on Gentlemen Hughes on Play Trevelyan on Reading School Students Teachers Universities And Colleges Emerson on Upbringing Play Life isn’t all beer and skittles, but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman’s education. Thomas Hughes (1822–96), English author. Tom Browne’s Schooldays, pt. 1, ch. 2 (1857). See also: Baseball Cards Thackeray on Childhood Montaigne on Children Football Gambling Games Golf Leisure Pleasure Recreation Sport The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press