In our relations with the people around us, we forgive them more readily for what they do, which they can help, than for what they are, which they cannot help.
Anna Brownell JamesonReputation being essentially contemporaneous, is always at the mercy of the Envious and the Ignorant. But Fame, whose very birth is posthumous, and which is only known to exist by the echo of its footsteps through congenial minds, can neither be increased nor diminished by any degree of wilfulness.
Anna Brownell JamesonA king or a prince becomes by accident a part of history. A poet or an artist becomes by nature and necessity a part of universal humanity.
Anna Brownell JamesonOut of the attempt to harmonize our actual life with our aspirations, our experience with our faith, we make poetry, - or, it may be, religion.
Anna Brownell JamesonA good taste in art feels the presence or the absence of merit; a just taste discriminates the degree--the poco piu and the poco meno. A good taste rejects faults; a just taste selects excellences. A good taste is often unconscious; a just taste is always conscious. A good taste may be lowered or spoilt; a just taste can only go on refining more and more.
Anna Brownell Jameson