A so-called happy marriage corresponds to love as a correct poem to an improvised song.

From what the moderns want, we must learn what poetry should become; from what the ancients did, what poetry must be.

Both in their origins and effects, boredom and stuffy air resemble each other. They are usually generated whenever a large number of people gather together in a closed room.

In many a poetic work, one gets here and there, instead of representation merely a title indicating that this or that was supposedto be represented here, that the artist has been prevented from doing it and most humbly asks to be kindly excused.

It is as deadly for a mind to have a system as to have none. Therefore it will have to decide to combine both.

All the classical genres are now ridiculous in their rigorous purity.

Genius is, to be sure, not a matter of arbitrariness, but rather of freedom, just as wit, love, and faith, which once shall become arts and disciplines. We should demand genius from everybody, without, however, expecting it.