This is the merit and distinction of art: to be more real than reality, to be not nature but nature's essence.

The life of Dumas is not only a monument of endeavour and success, it is a sort of labyrinth as well. It abounds in pseudonyms and disguises, in sudden and unexpected appearances and retreats as unexpected and sudden, in scandals and in rumours, in mysteries and traps and ambuscades of every kind.

In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeoning of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed.

Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

A late lark twitters from the quiet skies.

This is the merit and distinction of art: to be more real than reality, to be not nature but nature's essence.

Men may scoff, and men may pray, But they pay Every pleasure with a pain.