Aesthetic freedom is like free speech; it is, indeed, a form of free speech.

Always begin anew with the day, just as nature does. It is one of the sensible things that nature does.

To realize life in the abstract as noble or beautiful or humane, to set it forth so with radiance upon it, that is civilization in the arts. Shakespeare is the chief modern example of this supreme faculty of mankind.

I seldom deal in symbolisms; if there be hidden meanings in my verse, they are there without my knowledge.

"Old times" never come back and I suppose it's just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that's better.

The critic is genius at one remove; he is not unlike an actor on the stage, and incarnates in his mind, as the actor embodies in his person, another's work; only thus does he understand art, realize it, know it; and having arrived at this, his task is done.

I am quite sure that no friendship yields its true pleasure and nobility of nature without frequent communication, sympathy and service.