If I advance new views in Philosophy or Theology, I cannot expect to have many adherents among minds altogether unprepared for such views; yet it is certain that even those who most fiercely oppose me will recognize the power of… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share Image
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… — 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 for the most part is dreary or foolish; the tone is coarse and farcical; and the characters want the fine distinctive touches he so well knew how to give. If some luckless wight had written such… — George Henry Lewes Copy Share
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