Reserve is the truest expression of respect towards those who are its objects. Thomas de Quincey More Quotes by Thomas de Quincey More Quotes From Thomas de Quincey Nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium: its pleasures even are of a grave and solemn complexion. Thomas de Quincey pleasure laughing long It is most absurdly said, in popular language, of any man, that he is disguised in liquor; for, on the contrary, most men are disguised by sobriety. Thomas de Quincey drinking beer men All men come into this world alone and leave it alone. Thomas de Quincey solitude men world Grief even in a child hates the light and shrinks from human eyes. Thomas de Quincey hate grief children A great scholar, in the highest sense of the term, is not one who depends simply on an infinite memory, but also on an infinite and electrical power of combination; bringing together from the four winds, like the Angel of the Resurrection, what else were dust from dead men's bones, into the unity of breathing life. Thomas de Quincey angel men memories Grief! thou art classed amongst the depressing passions. And true it is that thou humblest to the dust, but also thou exaltest to the clouds. Thou shakest us with ague, but also thou steadiest like frost. Thou sickenest the heart, but also thou healest its infirmities. Thomas de Quincey depressing grief art The whole body of the arts and sciences composes one vast machinery for the irritation and development of the human intellect. Thomas de Quincey irritation development art All is finite in the present; and even that finite is infinite in it velocity of flight towards death. But in God there is nothing finite...Upon a night of earthquake he builds a thousand years of pleasant habitations for man. Upon the sorrow of an infant he raises oftentimes from human intellects glorious vintages that could not else have been. Thomas de Quincey men night years here was the secret of happiness, about which philosophers had disputed for so many ages, at once discovered; happiness might now be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat-pocket; portable ecstasies might be had corked up in a pint-bottle; and peace of mind could be sent down by the mail. Thomas de Quincey secret age mind Rightly it is said of utter, utter misery, that it 'cannot be remembered'; itself, being a rememberable thing, is swallowed up in its own chaos. Thomas de Quincey chaos misery said It was a Sunday afternoon, wet and cheerless; and a duller spectacle this earth of ours has not to show than a rainy Sunday in London. Thomas de Quincey afternoon sunday earth There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is--to teach; the function of the second is--to move, the first is a rudder, the second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy. Thomas de Quincey understanding literature moving Call for the grandest of all earthly spectacles, what is that? It is the sun going to his rest. Thomas de Quincey spectacles sun No progressive knowledge will ever medicine that dread misgiving of a mysterious and pathless power given to words of a certain import. Thomas de Quincey mysterious progressive medicine Under our present enormous accumulation of books, I do affirm that a most miserable distraction of choice must be very generally incident to the times; that the symptoms of it are in fact very prevalent, and that one of the chief symptoms is an enormous 'gluttonism' for books. Thomas de Quincey choices book facts Many a man has risen to eminence under the powerful reaction of his mind in fierce counter-agency to the scorn of the unworthy, daily evoked by his personal defects, who with a handsome person would have sunk into the luxury of a careless life under the tranquillizing smiles of continual admiration. Thomas de Quincey luxury powerful men The science of style as an organ of thought, of style in relation to the ideas and feelings, might be called the organology of style. Thomas de Quincey style feelings ideas It is notorious that the memory strengthens as you lay burdens upon it, and becomes trustworthy as you trust it. Thomas de Quincey trustworthy notorious memories The laughter of girls is, and ever was, among the delightful sounds of earth. Thomas de Quincey laughter girl sound There is a necessity for a regulating discipline of exercise that, whilst evoking the human energies, will not suffer them to be wasted. Thomas de Quincey discipline exercise fitness
