George Henry Lewes Quotes - Page 3

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• To one man a stream is so much water-power, to another a rendezvous for lovers.

  George Henry Lewes

  Men, Water, Acquired Taste

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• In all sincere speech there is power, not necessarily great power, but as much as the speaker is capable of.

  George Henry Lewes

  Speech, Sincere, Great Power

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Among the many strange servilities mistaken for pieties, one of the least lovely is that which hopes to flatter God by despising the world, and vilifying human nature.

  George Henry Lewes

  Lovely, World, Strange

  George Henry Lewes (1874). “Problems of Life and Mind”, p.23

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• Remember that every drop of rain that falls bears into the bosom of the earth a quality of beautiful fertility.

  George Henry Lewes

  Beautiful, Rain, Fall

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• The selective instinct of the artist tells him when his language should be homely, and when it should be more elevated; and it is precisely in the imperceptible blending of the plain with the ornate that a great writer is distinguished. He uses the simplest phrases without triviality, and the grandest without a suggestion of grandiloquence.

  George Henry Lewes

  Artist, Phrases, Use

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• The prosperity of a book lies in the minds of readers. Public knowledge and public taste fluctuate; and there come times when works which were once capable of instructing and delighting thousands lose their power, and works, before neglected, emerge into renown.

  George Henry Lewes

  Lying, Book, Mind

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Heart and Brain are the two lords of life. In the metaphors of ordinary speech and in the stricter language of science, we use these terms to indicate two central powers, from which all motives radiate, to which all influences converge.

  George Henry Lewes

  Life, Heart, Science

  "The Heart and the Brain". "Catholic world", Volume 1, Issue 5, August 1865.

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• When a man fails to see the truth of certain generally accepted views, there is no law compelling him to provoke animosity by announcing his dissent.

  George Henry Lewes

  Men, Views, Law

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Roger_Bacon" title="Roger Bacon">Roger Bacon expressed a feeling which afterwards moved many minds, when he said that if he had the power he would burn all the works of the Stagirite, since the study of them was not simply loss of time, but multiplication of ignorance. Yet in spite of this outbreak every page is studded with citations from Aristotle, of whom he everywhere speaks in the highest admiration.

  George Henry Lewes

  Ignorance, Loss, Feelings

  "Aristotle: a Chapter from the History of Science". Book by George Henry Lewes, 1864.

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• A man must be himself convinced if he is to convince others. The prophet must be his own disciple, or he will make none. Enthusiasm is contagious: belief creates belief.

  George Henry Lewes

  Men, Enthusiasm, Belief

  "The Principles of Success in Literature". The Fortnightly Review, Volume 1, www.gutenberg.org. 1865.

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• Our native susceptibilities and acquired tastes determine which of the many qualities in an object shall most impress us, and be most clearly recalled. One man remembers the combustible properties of a substance, which to another is memorable for its polarising property; to one man a stream is so much water-power, to another a rendezvous for lovers.

  George Henry Lewes

  Memorable, Men, Water

  "The Principles of Success in Literature". The Fortnightly Review, Volume 1, www.gutenberg.org. 1865.

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• "There is one basis of science," says Descartes, "one test and rule of truth, namely, that whatever is clearly and distinctly conceived is true." A profound psychological mistake. It is true only of formal logic, wherein the mind never quits the sphere of its first assumptions to pass out into the sphere of real existences; no sooner does the mind pass from the internal order to the external order, than the necessity of verifying the strict correspondence between the two becomes absolute. The Ideal Test must be supplemented by the Real Test, to suit the new conditions of the problem.

  George Henry Lewes

  Real, Mistake, Two

  "Aristotle: a Chapter from the History of Science" by George Henry Lewes, (Ch. 4), 1864.

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• Not only the individual experience slowly acquired, but the accumulated experience of the race, organized in language, condensed in instruments and axioms, and in what may be called the inherited intuitions--these form the multiple unity which is expressed in the abstract term "experience.

  George Henry Lewes

  Race, Unity, Intuition

  George Henry Lewes (1874). “Problems of Life and Mind: v.1-2 . The foundations of a creed”, p.26

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• The mathematician who is without value to mathematicians, the thinker who is obscure or meaningless to thinkers, the dramatist who fails to move the pit, may be wise, may be eminent, but as an author he has failed.

  George Henry Lewes

  Wise, Moving, May

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Personal experience is the basis of all real literature.

  George Henry Lewes

  Real, Literature, Bases

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Metaphysical ghosts cannot be killed, because they cannot be touched; but they may be dispelled by dispelling the twilight in which shadows and solidities are easily confounded. The Vital Principle is an entity of this ghostly kind; and although the daylight has dissipated it, and positive Biology is no longer vexed with its visitations, it nevertheless reappears in another shape in the shadowy region of mystery which surrounds biological and all other questions.

  George Henry Lewes

  Twilight, Science, Shadow

  George Henry Lewes (1867). “The History of Philosophy from Thales to Comte by George Henry Lewes: Ancient philosophy”, p.84

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• He who is ignorant of Motion, says Aristotle , is necessarily ignorant of all natural things. ...Not only was he entirely in the dark respecting the Laws, he was completely wrong in his conception of the nature of Motion. ...He thought that every body in motion naturally tends to rest.

  George Henry Lewes

  Dark, Law, Ignorant

  George Henry Lewes (1864). “Aristotle: a chapter from the history of science including analyses of Aristotle's scientific writings”, p.126, London : Smith, Elder and Company

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• To his [ Plato's ] great disappointment, he found Anaxagoras adducing simple physical reasons, instead of the teleological reasons, which he had expected. Such a teacher could no longer allure him.

  George Henry Lewes

  Teacher, Plato, Disappointment

  George Henry Lewes (1864). “Aristotle: a chapter from the history of science including analyses of Aristotle's scientific writings”, p.102, London : Smith, Elder and Company

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• Bad acting, like bad writing, has a remarkable uniformity, whether seen on the French, German, or English stages; it all seems modeled after two or three types, and those the least like types of good acting. The fault generally lies less in the bad imitation of a good model, than in the successful imitation of a bad model.

  George Henry Lewes

  Lying, Writing, Successful

  George Henry Lewes (1875). “On Actors and the Art of Acting”, p.185, London Smith, Elder 1875.

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• Sincerity is moral truth.

  George Henry Lewes

  Moral, Sincerity

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• The artist is called a creator.

  George Henry Lewes

  Art, Artist, Creator

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• It is not true that a man can believe or disbelieve what he will. But it is certain that an active desire to find any proposition true will unconsciously tend to that result by dismissing importunate suggestions which run counter to the belief, and welcoming those which favor it. The psychological law, that we only see what interests us, and only assimilate what is adapted to our condition, causes the mind to select its evidence.

  George Henry Lewes

  Running, Believe, Men

  George Henry Lewes (1874). “Problems of Life and Mind”, p.429

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• 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

  Book, Victory, Arrogance

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• In complex trains of thought signs are indispensable.

  George Henry Lewes

  Train Of Thought, Indispensable, Complexes

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Imagination is not the exclusive appanage of artists, but belongs in varying degrees to all men.

  George Henry Lewes

  Artist, Men, Imagination

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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