All knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use.

That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, the happy highways where I went and cannot come again.

Do not ever read books about versification: no poet ever learnt it that way. If you are going to be a poet, it will come to you naturally and you will pick up all you need from reading poetry.

To be a textual critic requires aptitude for thinking and willingness to think; and though it also requires other things, those things are supplements and cannot be substitutes. Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head.

Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good.

Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.

The average man, if he meddles with criticism at all, is a conservative critic.