A nation's poets are its true owners; and by the stroke of the pen they convey the title-deeds of its real possessions to strangers and aliens.

The poet craves emotion, and feeds the fire that consumes him, and only under this condition is he baptized with creative power.

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.

A writer is justly called 'universal' when he is understood within the limits of his civilization, though that be bounded by a country or an age.

A marvellous power of expression over language often distinguishes genius; but Shakespeare in his phrases seems independent of the bonds of language as of the bonds of metre.

"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.

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