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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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George Henry Lewes
Age: 61 †
Born: 1817
Born: April 18
Died: 1878
Died: November 30
Journalist
Literary Critic
Philosopher
Theatre Critic
Writer
London
England
Desire
Overcoming
Calmly
Another
Brave
Prompts
Cannot
Loves
Peril
Power
Danger
Sympathy
May
Turn
Overcome
Feel
Simply
Desires
Feels
Within
Sees
Buoyed
Men
Turns
Wild
Imaginable

More quotes by George Henry Lewes

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Character is built out of circumstances. From exactly the same materials, one man builds palaces, while another builds hovels.
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Literature delivers tidings of the world within and the world without.
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I am suspicious without a motive, and jealous without love although I feel I ought to love since I desire to be loved.
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Murder, like talent, seems occasionally to run in families.
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If you feel yourself to be above the mass, speak so as to raise the mass to the height of your argument.
George Henry Lewes
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If a work of art is placed before me, I believe I can enjoy it but I do not overlook the fact, that Art is one thing, another thing Amusement and that people do like amusements, and will run after it.
George Henry Lewes
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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
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The art of writing is not, as many seem to imagine, the art of bringing fine phrases into rhythmical order, but the art of placing before the reader intelligible symbols of the thoughts and feelings in the writer's mind.
George Henry Lewes
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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
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Roger Bacon, a disciple of the Arabs, also insisted on the primary necessity of Mathematics, without which no other science can be known yet by Mathematics it is clear that he meant something very different from what we mean, including under that head even dancing, singing, gesticulation, and performance on musical instruments.
George Henry Lewes
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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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In all sincere speech there is power, not necessarily great power, but as much as the speaker is capable of.
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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Remember that every drop of rain that falls bears into the bosom of the earth a quality of beautiful fertility.
George Henry Lewes
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Pliny... makes the statement, and for untrustworthiness of statement he cannot easily be surpassed.
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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To one man a stream is so much water-power, to another a rendezvous for lovers.
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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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
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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