If the whole world should agree to speak nothing but truth, what an abridgment it would make of speech! And what an unravelling there would be of the invisible webs which men, like so many spiders, now weave about each other! Washington Allston More Quotes by Washington Allston More Quotes From Washington Allston The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself. Washington Allston wise adventure men Distinction is the consequence, never the object of a great mind. Washington Allston objects distinction mind Never judge a work of art by its defects. Washington Allston umpires judging art The most intangible, and therefore the worst, kind of a lie is a half truth. This is the peculiar device of a conscientious detractor. Washington Allston peculiar half lying Never expect justice from a vain man; if he has the negative magnanimity not to disparage you, it is the most you can expect. Washington Allston vanity justice men The most common disguise of Envy is in praise of what is subordinate. Washington Allston envy praise common I cannot believe that any man who deserved fame ever labored for it; that is, directly. For, as fame is but the contingent of excellence, it would be like an attempt to project a shadow, before its substance was obtained. Washington Allston excellence men believe It is my greatest misfortune to be too lazy, and by the few mortifications I have already set with on that account I predict many evils in my future life. I have always the inclination to do what I ought; but by continually procrastinating for tomorrow the business of today, I insensibly delay, until at the end of one month I find myself in the same place as when I began it. Washington Allston delay lazy evil Reputation is but a synonym of popularity: dependent on suffrage, to be increased or diminished at the will of the voters. Washington Allston popularity reputation voters Desert being the essential condition of praise, there can be no reality in the one without the other. Washington Allston desert essentials reality Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese absolutely enchanted me, for they took away all sense of subject... It was the poetry of color which I felt, procreative in its nature, giving birth to a thousand things which the eye cannot see, and distinct from their cause. Washington Allston color eye giving In the same degree that we overrate ourselves, we shall underrate others. Washington Allston degrees I am inclined to think from my own experience that the difficulty to eminence lies not in the road, but in the timidity of the traveler. Washington Allston traveler lying thinking He who has no pleasure in looking up, is not fit so much as to look down. Washington Allston respect fit looks If an Artist love his Art for its own sake, he will delight in excellence wherever he meets it, as well in the work of another as in his own. Washington Allston delight excellence art The greatest of all fools is the proud fool--who is at the mercy of every fool he meets. Washington Allston fool proud mercy Reverence is an ennobling sentiment; it is felt to be degrading only by the vulgar mind, which would escape the sense of its own littleness by elevating itself into an antagonist of what is above it. He that has no pleasure in looking up is not fit so much as to look down. Of such minds are mannerists in Art; in the world, tyrants of all sorts. Washington Allston tyrants mind art If I prove extravagant, I shall be more so from ignorance than willfulness. I am not wholly insensible to the pleasures of the world, therefore shall not be governed entirely by necessity; but I flatter myself, at least, in being able to restrain their gratification within due bonds. Washington Allston able ignorance world All effort at originality must end either in the quaint or the monstrous. For no man knows himself as an original; he can only believe it on the report of others. Washington Allston effort men believe It is a hard matter for a man to lie all over, nature having provided king's evidence in almost every member. The hand will sometimes act as a vane, to show which way the wind blows, even when every feature is set the other way; the knees smite together and sound the alarm of fear under a fierce countenance; the legs shake with anger when all above us calm. Washington Allston kings blow lying
