Nothing is more painful to me than the disdain with which people treat second-rate authors, as if there were room only for the first-raters. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve More Quotes by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve More Quotes From Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve With everyone born human, a poet - an artist - is born, who dies young and who is survived by an adult. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve adults artist wise Nature wants us to enjoy life to the full and die without giving it a second thought; Christianity wants the opposite. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve enjoy-life opposites giving There are people whose clocks stop at a certain point in their lives. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve clock certain people Despair itself if it goes on long enough, can become a kind of sanctuary in which one settles down and feels at ease. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve despair goes-on long The nearest approach to the infallible in literary judgment is represented in the colossal work of the teacher of all these three [Edmund Gosse, Edward Dowden and George Saintsbury], the greatest critic that ever lived - not an Englishman, but a Frenchman, the wonderful Sainte-Beuve. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve three wonderful teacher In most men there exists a poet who died young, whom the man survived. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve he-man poetry men I have always thought that if we began for one moment to say what we thought, society would collapse. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve collapse honesty moments If you want to succeed, limit yourself. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve succeed limits want Since it is necessary to have enemies, let us endeavour to have those who do us honour. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve honour endeavour enemy If I had a device, it would be the true, the true only, leaving the beautiful and the good to settle matters afterwards as best they could. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve leaving truth beautiful Most celebrated men live in a condition of prostitution. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve prostitution fame men A philosophical thought has probably not attained all its sharpness and all its illumination until it is expressed in French. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve sharpness illumination philosophical What signifies the ladder, provided one rise and attain the end? Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve ladders ends The greatest of all French critics, and possibly the greatest European critic since Aristotle . Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve critics
