It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual condition will make us consent to it.

The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather

The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather.

Any historian of the literature of the modern age will take virtually for granted the adversary intention, the actually subversive intention, that characterizes modern writing / he will perceive its clear purpose of detaching the reader from the habits of thought and feeling that the larger culture imposes, of giving him a ground and a vantage point from which to judge and condemn, and perhaps revise, the culture that produces him.

Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.

There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination.