James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowellwas an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth22 February 1819
CountryUnited States of America
discipline literature shapes
Where one person shapes their life by precept and example, there are a thousand who have shaped it by impulse and circumstances.
father devil shapes
If the devil take a less hateful shape to us than to our fathers, he is as busy with us as with them.
education knowledge desire
To educate the intelligence is to expand the horizon of its wants and desires.
brave literature weak
Fortune is the rod of the weak, and the staff of the brave.
form government man
Democracy is the form of government that gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.
feels less lovely man sentiments weigh
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
democracy man
Democracy give every man the right to be his own oppressor.
faces grows life milestones near road runs strange
As life runs on, the road grows strange with faces new -- and near the end. The milestones into headstones change, Neath every one a friend.
mastered reading whatever worth wound
A reading machine, always wound up and going, he mastered whatever was not worth the knowing.
attribute good skepticism wise
A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.
god strong dark
Darkness is strong, and so is Sin, But surely God endures forever!
expression giving form
New conditions of life will stimulate thought and give new forms to its expression.
hands devil weapons
A sneer is the weapon of the weak. Like other devil's weapons, it is always cunningly ready to our hand, and there is more poison in the handle than in the point.
book practice class
It is quite too common a practice, both in readers and the more superficial class of critics, to judge a book by what it is not, a matter much easier to determine than what it is.