The closest modern equivalent to the Homeric hero is the ace fighter pilot.

Rhymes, meters, stanza forms, etc., are like servants. If the master is fair enough to win their affection and firm enough to command their respect, the result is an orderly happy household. If he is too tyrannical, they give notice; if he lacks authority, they become slovenly, impertinent, drunk and dishonest.

Warm are the still and lucky miles, White shores of longing stretch away, A light of recognition fills The whole great day, and bright The tiny world of lovers' arms. Silence invades the breathing wood Where drowsy limbs a treasure keep, Now greenly falls the learned shade Across the sleeping brows And stirs their secret to a smile. Restored! Returned! The lost are borne On seas of shipwreck home at last: See! In a fire of praising burns The dry dumb past, and we Our life-day long shall part no more.

A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.

Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible.

The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.

Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self.