I must lay down the law as I understand it, and as I read it in books of authority. Samuel Taylor Coleridge More Quotes by Samuel Taylor Coleridge More Quotes From Samuel Taylor Coleridge To all new truths, or renovation of old truths, it must be as in the ark between the destroyed and the about-to-be renovated world. The raven must be sent out before the dove, and ominous controversy must precede peace and the olive wreath. Samuel Taylor Coleridge arkravenstruth Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense, at all events, just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house, at least. Samuel Taylor Coleridge palaceseventshouse An idea, in the highest sense of that word, cannot be conveyed but by a symbol. Samuel Taylor Coleridge symbolshighestideas Some persons have contended that mathematics ought to be taught by making the illustrations obvious to the senses. Nothing can be more absurd or injurious: it ought to be our never-ceasing effort to make people think, not feel. Samuel Taylor Coleridge illustrationsciencethinking Oh worse than everything, is kindness counterfeiting absent love. Samuel Taylor Coleridge absentkindnesslove Men of genius are rarely much annoyed by the company of vulgar people. Samuel Taylor Coleridge annoyedmenpeople Ignorance seldom vaults into knowledge, but passes into it through an intermediate state of obscurity, even as night into day through twilight. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ignorancetwilightnight As it must not, so genius cannot be lawless; for it is even that constitutes its genius - the power of acting creatively under laws of its own origination. Samuel Taylor Coleridge actingpowerlaw With no other privilege than that of sympathy and sincere good wishes, I would address an affectionate exhortation to the youthful literati, grounded on my own experience. It will be but short; for the beginning, middle, and end converge to one charge: NEVER PURSUE LITERATURE AS A TRADE. Samuel Taylor Coleridge beginning-middle-and-endliteraturewish It is a flat'ning Thought, that the more we have seen, the less we have to say. Samuel Taylor Coleridge flats Words in prose ought to express the intended meaning; if they attract attention to themselves, it is a fault; in the very best styles you read page after page without noticing the medium. Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are, the more necessary it is to be plain. Samuel Taylor Coleridge plain-languageimaginationwriting A religion, that is, a true religion, must consist of ideas and facts both; not of ideas alone without facts, for then it would be mere Philosophy; - nor of facts alone without ideas, of which those facts are symbols, or out of which they arise, or upon which they are grounded: for then it would be mere History. Samuel Taylor Coleridge philosophyideasreligion Hence, viper thoughts, that coil around my mind,Reality's dark dream!I turn from you, and listen to the wind,Which long has raved unnoticed. Samuel Taylor Coleridge darkdreamreality Poor little Foal of an oppressed race! I love the languid patience of thy face. Samuel Taylor Coleridge raceanimallove A man of maxims only is like a Cyclops with one eye, and that in the back of his head. Samuel Taylor Coleridge cyclopseyemen In wonder all philosophy began, in wonder it ends, and admiration fill up the interspace; but the first wonder is the offspring of ignorance, the last is the parent of adoration. Samuel Taylor Coleridge parentignorancephilosophy How strange and awful is the synthesis of life and death in the gusty winds and falling leaves of an autumnal day! Samuel Taylor Coleridge life-and-deathwindfall Mr. Lyell's system of geology is just half the truth, and no more. He affirms a great deal that is true, and he denies a great deal which is equally true; which is the general characteristic of all systems not embracing the whole truth. Samuel Taylor Coleridge denyhalfscience Humor is consistent with pathos, whilst wit is not. Samuel Taylor Coleridge pathoswittongue A people are free in proportion as they form their own opinions. Samuel Taylor Coleridge atheismlibertypeople
