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… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
There are occasions when the simplest and fewest words surpass in effect all the wealth of rhetorical amplification. — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
Heart and Brain are the two lords of life. In the metaphors of ordinary speech and in the stricter language of science, we use… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
It is unhappily true that much insincere Literature and Art, executed solely with a view to effect, does succeed by deceiving the public. — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
I have always considered The Merry Wives one of the worst plays, if not altogether the worst, that Shakespeare has left us. The wit… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
Literature is at once the cause and the effect of social progress. — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
Literature is at once the cause and the effect of social progress. It deepens our natural sensibilities, and strengthens by exercise our intellectual capacities.… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
To some men popularity is always suspicious. Enjoying none themselves, they are prone to suspect the validity of those attainments which command it. — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
The art of writing is not, as many seem to imagine, the art of bringing fine phrases into rhythmical order, but the art of… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
Literature delivers tidings of the world within and the world without. — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
