The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness.
Emotion is the surest arbiter of a poetic choice, and it is the priest of all supreme unions in the mind
A liberal mind is a mind that is able to imagine itself believing anything.
There is something self-defeating in the too-conscious pursuit of pleasure.
Patriotism is one of the unalterable facts of man's nature. It is a virtue if you like it, and a vice if you don't like it.
Classic art was the art of necessity: modern romantic art bears the stamp of caprice and chance.