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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

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George Henry Lewes
Age: 61 †
Born: 1817
Born: April 18
Died: 1878
Died: November 30
Journalist
Literary Critic
Philosopher
Theatre Critic
Writer
London
England
Nature
Endure
Successfully
Human
Deeper
Tastes
Humans
Taste
Contain
Works
Appeal
Opinion
Truths
Alone
Appeals
Beauty
Opinions
Success
Permanent
Enduring

More quotes by George Henry Lewes

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To love is for the Soul to choose a companion, and travel with it along the perilous defiles and winding ways of life mutually sustaining, when it is rugged with obstructions, and mutually rejoicing, when rich broad plains and sunny slopes make journeying delight.
George Henry Lewes
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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
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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
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Vehemence without feeling is but rant.
George Henry Lewes
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The intensity of vision in the artist and of vividness in his creations are the sole tests of his imaginative power.
George Henry Lewes
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All good Literature rests primarily on insight.
George Henry Lewes
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In the air we breathe, in the water we drink, in the earth we tread on, Life is every where. Nature lives: every pore is bursting with Life every death is only a new birth, every grave a cradle.
George Henry Lewes
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In Science the paramount appeal is to the Intellect-its purpose being instruction in Art, the paramount appeal is to the Emotions-its purpose being pleasure.
George Henry Lewes
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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
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The air is crowded with birds -- beautiful, tender, intelligent birds -- to whom life is a song.
George Henry Lewes
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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
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Books have become our dearest companions, yielding exquisite delights and inspiring lofty aims.
George Henry Lewes
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It is always understood as an expression of condemnation when anything in Literature or Art is said to be done for effect and yet to produce an effect is the aim and end of both.
George Henry Lewes
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Books minister to our knowledge, to our guidance, and to our delight, by their truth, their uprightness, and their art.
George Henry Lewes
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It is not enough that a man has clearness of vision, and reliance on sincerity, he must also have the art of expression, or he will remain obscure.
George Henry Lewes
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No deeply rooted tendency was ever extirpated by adverse judgment. Not having originally been founded on argument, it cannot be destroyed by logic.
George Henry Lewes
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A man may be buoyed up by the efflation of his wild desires to brave any imaginable peril but he cannot calmly see one he loves braving the same peril simply because he cannot feel within turn that which prompts another. He sees the danger, and feels not the power that is to overcome it.
George Henry Lewes
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The great desire of this age is for a doctrine which may serve to condense our knowledge, guide our researches, and shape our lives, so that conduct may really be the consequence of belief
George Henry Lewes
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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
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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