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I have been right, Basil, haven’t I, to take my love out of poetry, and to find my wife in Shakespeare’s plays? Lips that Shakespeare taught to speak ...more

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The worst of it is that I am perpetually being punished for nothing; this governor loves to punish, and he punishes by taking my books away from me. I...more

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She lives the poetry she cannot write.

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All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic.

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It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.

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Albeit nurtured in democracy, And liking best that state republican Where every man is Kinglike and no manIs crowned above his fellows, yet I see,Spit...more

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If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

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There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.

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Come down, O Christ, and help me! reach thy hand For I am drowning in a stormier sea Than Simon on thy lake of Galilee:The wine of life is spilt upon ...more

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The mimicry of passion is the most intolerable of all poses.

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Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful t...more

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She lives in the poetry she cannot write.

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Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined one's self over poetry is an honour.

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Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show...more

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There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.