They [the English] have a special word, "civil," for what is else... by Edmund Wilson

They [the English] have a special word, "civil," for what is elsewhere merely ordinary politeness.

Edmund Wilson

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No two persons ever read the same book. by Edmund Wilson

No two persons ever read the same book.

reading inspirational book

In times of disorder and stress, the fanatics play a prominent role; in times of peace, the critics. Both are shot after the revolution.

stress truth play

In a sense, one can never read the book that the author originally wrote, and one can never read the same book twice.

book

The most immoral and disgraceful and dangerous thing that anybody can do in the arts is knowingly to feed back to the public its own ignorance and cheap tastes.

taste ignorance art

A young poet in America should not be advised at the outset to give up all for the Muse-to seclude himself in the country, to live hand from mouth in Greenwich Village or to escape to the Riviera. I should not advise him even to become a magazine editor or work in a publisher's office. The poet would do better to study a profession, to become a banker or a public official or even to go in for the movies.

giving-up country hands

I have learned to read the papers calmly and not to hate the fool... by Edmund Wilson

I have learned to read the papers calmly and not to hate the fools I read about.

fool hate paper

From the moment a New Yorker is confronted with almost any large city of Europe, it is impossible for him to pretend to himself that his own city is anything other than an unscrupulous real-estate speculation

real cities europe

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.

learning education inspirational

It is certainly very hard to write about sex in English without m... by Edmund Wilson

It is certainly very hard to write about sex in English without making it unattractive.

unattractive writing sex

One didn't really believe till one saw it demonstrated that giving oneself up completely to art, to emotion, to enjoyment, without planning for the future or counting the cost, produced dreadful disabilities and bankruptcies later.

giving believe art

If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes. by Edmund Wilson

If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.

poodles change dog

His style has the desperate jauntiness of an orchestra fiddling away for dear life on a sinking ship.

style inspire life

The cruelest thing that has happened to Lincoln since he was shot by Booth was to fall into the hands of Carl Sandburg.

insult hands fall

If I could only remember that the days were not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace, but only food for the fires of the heart.

fire heart life

The great mistake about Europe is taking the countries seriously and letting them quarrel and drop bombs on one another.

mistake europe country

Education, the last hope of the liberal in all periods. by Edmund Wilson

Education, the last hope of the liberal in all periods.

lasts periods

On the one hand, I have wanted to supply documentation on myself by including material relevant to my emotions and ideas in my youth; and, on the other, not to let myself down by publishing inferior material. My poetry comes under the latter head. My only advice to the reader is to skip any verse that he sees coming.

advice hands ideas

Keep going; never stop; sit tight; Read something luminous at ni... by Edmund Wilson

Keep going; never stop; sit tight; Read something luminous at night.

keep-going luminous night

There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate inco... by Edmund Wilson

There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.

adequate income money

The only thing that we can really make is our work, and deliberate work of the mind, imagination and hand, done, as Nietzsche said, ‘notwithstanding,’ in the long run remakes the world.

running long hands