Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landorwas an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity. As remarkable as his work was, it was equalled by his rumbustious character and lively temperament...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth30 January 1775
tyrants earth palaces
Tyrants never perish from tyranny, but always from folly,-when their fantasies have built up a palace for which the earth has no foundation.
hurt truth blood
Truth is a point, the subtlest and finest; harder than adamant; never to be broken, worn away, or blunted. Its only bad quality is, that it is sure to hurt those who touch it; and likely to draw blood, perhaps the life blood, of those who press earnestly upon it.
writing men thinking
It has been my fortune to love in general those men most who have thought most differently from me, on subjects wherein others pardon no discordance. I think I have no more right to be angry with a man, whose reason has followed up a process different from what mine has, and is satisfied with the result, than with one who has gone to Venice while I am at Siena, and who writes to me that he likes the place.
sound wells reasonable
We oftener say things because we can say them well, than because they are sound and reasonable.
The assailant is often in the right; the assailed is always.
past notes music-is
The present, like a note in music, is nothing but as it appertains to what is past and what is to come.
philosophy school exercise
All schools of philosophy, and almost all authors, are rather to be frequented for exercise than for weight.
wise praise applause
We cannot at once catch the applauses of the vulgar and expect the approbation of the wise.
men thinking excess
The deafest man can hear praise, and is slow to think any an excess.
art men desire
There is a desire of property in the sanest and best men, which Nature seems to have implanted as conservative of her works, and which is necessary to encourage and keep alive the arts.
flower too-much fruit
The vain poet is of the opinion that nothing of his can be too much: he sends to you basketful after basketful of juiceless fruit, covered with scentless flowers.
men modesty affair
Modesty and diffidence make a man unfit for public affairs; they also make him unfit for brothels.
lying doubt inquiry
If there were no falsehood in the world, there would be no doubt, if there were no doubt, there would be no inquiry; if no inquiry, no wisdom, no knowledge, no genius; and Fancy herself would lie muffled up in her robe, inactive, pale, and bloated.
love heart forever
The heart that once has been bathed in love's pure fountain retains the pulse of youth forever.