George Henry Lewes Quotes

The history of the race is but that of the individual "writ large".

George Henry Lewes

The Foundations of a Creed - 1874-5 - Quotation is cited from the 1st edition.

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Among the many strange servilities mistaken for pieties, one of the least lovely is that which hopes to flatter God by despising the world, and vilifying human nature.

George Henry Lewes

The Foundations of a Creed - 1874-5 - Quotation is cited from the 1st edition.

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Whatever lies beyond the limits of experience, and claims another origin than that of induction and deduction from established data, is illegitimate.

George Henry Lewes

The Foundations of a Creed - 1874-5 - Quotation is cited from the 1st edition.

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No deeply-rooted tendency was ever extirpated by adverse argument. Not having originally been founded on argument, it cannot be destroyed by logic.

George Henry Lewes

The Foundations of a Creed - 1874-5 - Quotation is cited from the 1st edition.

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The great desire of this age is for a Doctrine which may serve to condense our knowledge, guide our researches, and shape our lives, so that Conduct may really be the consequence of Belief.

George Henry Lewes

The Foundations of a Creed - 1874-5 - Quotation is cited from the 1st edition.

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The art of a great writer is seen in the perfect fitness of his expressions. He knows how to blend vividness with vagueness, knows where images are needed, and where by their vivacity they would be...

George Henry Lewes

The Principles of Success in Literature - 1865 - First published in The Fortnightly Review.

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Simplicity of structure means organic unity, whether the organism be simple or complex; and hence in all times the emphasis which critics have laid upon Simplicity, though they have not unfrequently...

George Henry Lewes

The Principles of Success in Literature - 1865 - First published in The Fortnightly Review.

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Obedient to the primary impulse of adequate expression, the style of a complex subject should be complex; of a technical subject, technical; of an abstract subject, abstract; of a familiar subject,...

George Henry Lewes

The Principles of Success in Literature - 1865 - First published in The Fortnightly Review.

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The selective instinct of the artist tells him when his language should be homely, and when it should be more elevated; and it is precisely in the imperceptible blending of the plain with the ornate...

George Henry Lewes

The Principles of Success in Literature - 1865 - First published in The Fortnightly Review.

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The first obligation of Simplicity is that of using the simplest means to secure the fullest effect. But although the mind instinctlvely rejects all needless complexity, we shall greatly err if we...

George Henry Lewes

The Principles of Success in Literature - 1865 - First published in The Fortnightly Review.

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