All Van Wyck Brooks Quotes
- Magnanimous people have no vanity, they have no jealousy, and they feed on the true and the solid wherever they find it. And, what is… Everywhere
- People of small caliber are always carping. They are bent on showing their own superiority, their knowledge or prowess or good breeding. Always Carping
- The writer is important only by dint of the territory he colonizes. Colonizes
- As against having beautiful workshops, studies, etc., one writes best in a cellar on a rainy day. Beautiful
- No one is fit to judge a book until he has rounded Cape Horn in a sailing vessel, until he has bumped into two or… Been
- Never forget that it is we New Yorkers and New Englanders who have the monopoly of whatever oxygen there is in the American continent. American
- Those of our writers who have possessed a vivid personal talent have been paralyzed by a want of social background. Background
- No man should ever publish a book until he has first read it to a woman. Book
- The man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man. Courage
- How delightful is the company of generous people, who overlook trifles and keep their minds instinctively fixed on whatever is good and positive in the… Always Carping
- Earnest people are often people who habitually look on the serious side of things that have no serious side. Earnest
- The American mind, unlike the English, is not formed by books, but, as Carl Sandburg once said to me, by newspapers and the Bible. American
- The creative impulses of man are always at war with the possessive impulses. Creative
- Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright. Bright
- If men were basically evil, who would bother to improve the world instead of giving it up as a bad job at the outset? Bad
- A man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man. The instructed man is ashamed to pronounce in an orphic manner… Appears
- It is not that the French are not profound, but they all express themselves so well that we are led to take their geese for… All
- Nothing is sadder than having worldly standards without worldly means. Inspirational
- There is no stopping the world's tendency to throw off imposed restraints, the religious authority that is based on the ignorance of the many, the… Authority
- How delightful is the company of generous people, who overlook trifles and keep their minds instinctively fixed on whatever is good and positive in the… Company
- Once you have a point of view all history will back you up. All
- Nothing is so soothing to our self-esteem as to find our bad traits in our forebears. It seems to absolve us. Absolve