When A Man Mistakes His Thoughts For

To All New Truths, Or Renovation Of Old Truths, It Must Be As In The Ark Between The Destroyed And The About-to-be Renovated World. The Raven Must Be Sent Out Before The Dove, And Ominous Controversy Must Precede Peace And The Olive Wreath.

Creation Rather Than Painting, Or If Painting, Yet Such, And With Such Co-presence Of The Whole Picture Flash'd At Once Upon The Eye, As The Sun Paints In A Camera Obscura. (describing His Poetic Ideal, 1817)

Why Is It That So Many Of Us Persist In Thinking That Autumn Is A Sad Season? Nature Has Merely Fallen Asleep, And Her Dreams Must Be Beautiful If We Are To Judge By Her Countenance.

The Definition Of Good Prose Is Proper Words In Their Proper Places; Of Good Verse, The Most Proper Words In Their Proper Places.the Propriety Is In Either Case Relative. The Words In Prose Ought To Express The Intended Meaning, And No More; If They Attract Attention To Themselves, It Is, In General, A Fault.

Exclusively Of The Abstract Sciences, The Largest And Worthiest Portion Of Our Knowledge Consists Of Aphorisms: And The Greatest And Best Of Men Is But An Aphorism.