George Henry Lewes
George Henry Lewes
George Henry Leweswas an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He became part of the mid-Victorian ferment of ideas which encouraged discussion of Darwinism, positivism, and religious skepticism. However, he is perhaps best known today for having openly lived with Mary Ann Evans, who wrote under the pen-name George Eliot, as soulmates whose life and writings were enriched by their relationship, despite never marrying...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth18 April 1817
art philosophy imagination
Philosophy and Art both render the invisible visible by imagination.
science giving able
Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes.
running art believe
If a work of art is placed before me, I believe I can enjoy it; but I do not overlook the fact, that Art is one thing, another thing Amusement; and that people do like amusements, and will run after it.
wise moving pits
The mathematician who is without value to mathematicians, the thinker who is obscure or meaningless to thinkers, the dramatist who fails to move the pit, may be wise, may be eminent, but as an author he has failed.
lovely world strange
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.
real mistake order
There is one basis of science," says Descartes , "one test and rule of truth, namely, that whatever is clearly and distinctly conceived is true." A profound psychological mistake. It is true only of formal logic, wherein the mind never quits the sphere of its first assumptions to pass out into the sphere of real existences; no sooner does the mind pass from the internal order to the external order, than the necessity of verifying the strict correspondence between the two becomes absolute. The Ideal Test must be supplemented by the Real Test, to suit the new conditions of the problem.
exercise past race
Literature is at once the cause and the effect of social progress. It deepens our natural sensibilities, and strengthens by exercise our intellectual capacities. It stores up the accumulated experience of the race, connecting Past and Present into a conscious unity; and with this store it feeds successive generations, to be fed in turn by them.
hands literature may
All bad Literature rests upon imperfect insight, or upon imitation, which may be defined as seeing at second-hand.
lying magic concentration
The magic of the pen lies in the concentration of your thoughts upon one object.
lying writing successful
Bad acting, like bad writing, has a remarkable uniformity, whether seen on the French, German, or English stages; it all seems modeled after two or three types, and those the least like types of good acting. The fault generally lies less in the bad imitation of a good model, than in the successful imitation of a bad model.
art book delight
Books minister to our knowledge, to our guidance, and to our delight, by their truth, their uprightness, and their art.
men may poet
A man may be variously accomplished, and yet be a feeble poet.
motivational self-esteem grief
The only cure for grief is action.
genuine moved
The public can only be really moved by what is genuine.