Quote

For what wears out the life of mortal men? 'Tis that from change to change their being rolls Tis that repeated shocks, again, again, Exhaust the energy of strongest souls And numb the elastic powers.

Matthew Arnold

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Matthew Arnold
Age: 65 †
Born: 1822
Born: December 24
Died: 1888
Died: April 15
Journalist
Literary Critic
Poet
School Inspector
University Teacher
Writer
Laleham
Surrey
Energy
Wears
Change
Repeated
Soul
Mortal
Men
Mortals
Elastic
Life
Strongest
Shocks
Shock
Exhaust
Powers
Rolls
Souls
Numb

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Not deep the poet sees, but wide.
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The governing idea of Hellenism is spontaneity of consciousness that of Hebraism, strictness of conscience .
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Below the surface stream, shallow and light, Of what we say and feel below the stream, As light, of what we think we feel, there flows With noiseless current, strong, obscure and deep, The central stream of what we feel indeed.
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No, no! The energy of life may be Kept on after the grave, but not begun And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife, From strength to strength advancing--only he His soul well-knit, and all his battles won, Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.
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One has often wondered whether upon the whole earth there is anything so unintelligent, so unapt to perceive how the world is really going, as an ordinary young Englishman of our upper class.
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Waiting for the spark from heaven to fall.
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Not a having and a resting, but a growing and a becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.
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Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows Like the wave Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men. Love tends life a little grace, A few sad smiles and then, Both are laid in one cold place, In the grave.
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Culture is properly described as the love of perfection it is a study of perfection.
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The uppermost idea with Hellenism is to see things as they really are the uppermost ideas with Hebraism is conduct and obedience.Nothing can do away with this ineffaceable difference. The Greek quarrel with the body and its desires is, that they hinder right thinking the Hebrew quarrel with them is, that they hinder right acting.
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Ah! two desires toss about The poet's feverish blood One drives him to the world without, And one to solitude.
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But thou, my son, study to make prevail One colour in thy life, the hue of truth.
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The grand stye arises in poetry, when a noble nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or with severity a serious subject.
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Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
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France, famed in all great arts, in none supreme.
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Is it so small a thing To have enjoyed the sun.
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Life is not having and getting, but being and becoming
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Coleridge: poet and philosopher wrecked in a mist of opium.
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The world hath failed to impart the joy our youth forebodes failed to fill up the void which in our breasts we bear.
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I keep saying, Shakespeare, Shakespeare, you are as obscure as life is.
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