And when wind and winter harden All the loveless land, It will whisper of the garden, You will understand.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

She lives the poetry she cannot write.

The nineteenth century is a turning point in history, simply on account of the work of two men, Darwin and Renan, the one the critic of the Book of Nature, the other the critic of the books of God. Not to recognise this is to miss the meaning of one of the most important eras in the progress of the world.

Art is rarely intelligible to the criminal classes.

A man whose desire is to be something separate from himself, to be a member of Parliament, or a successful grocer, or a prominent solicitor, or a judge, or something equally tedious, invariably succeeds in being what he wants to be. That is his punishment. Those who want a mask have to wear it.

Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they're better.