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Character is built out of circumstances. From exactly the same materials, one man builds palaces, while another builds hovels.

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
Materials
Built
Circumstances
Another
Character
Hovels
Men
Builds
Palaces
Exactly

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There are occasions when the simplest and fewest words surpass in effect all the wealth of rhetorical amplification.
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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.
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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.
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Mathematicians do not write for the circulating library.
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Originality is independence, not rebellion it is sincerity, not antagonism.
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Ideas are forces our acceptance of one determines our reception of others.
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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.
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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.
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Good writers are of necessity rare.
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Endeavour to be faithful, and if there is any beauty in your thought, your style will be beautiful if there is any real emotion to express, the expression will be moving.
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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.
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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.
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Pliny... makes the statement, and for untrustworthiness of statement he cannot easily be surpassed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The public can only be really moved by what is genuine.
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