“Poetry must be simple, sensuous, or impassioned.” Adapting Milton's criteria for true poetry · Essay, Critic and Poet: An Apologue Criticism Poetry Standards
“I seem to have always one little window looking out into life. No such cure for pessimism as a severe illness; the simplest pleasures are enough — to breathe the air and see the sun.” Finding renewed appreciation for ordinary life after illness · Remark in final months, as recorded in obituary (1888) Healing Hope Life
“I cannot resist the impulse of expressing to you my extreme disappointment at finding you have so far modified the enthusiastic estimate you held of my literary labors as to refuse me a place in the large and miscellaneous collection of poems you have just edited. I find myself treated with absolute contempt in the very quarter where I had been encouraged to build my fondest hopes.” Expressing wounded pride after exclusion from an anthology · Letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1874) Disappointment Pride Recognition
“The Jewish problem is as old as history and assumes in each age a new form. All the magnanimity, patience, charity, and humanity, which the Jews have manifested in return for centuries of persecution, have been thus far inadequate to eradicate the profound antipathy engendered by fanaticism.” Observing the persistent nature of prejudice despite Jewish endurance · Essay, The Jewish Problem (1883) History Humanity Prejudice
“Until we are all free, we are none of us free.” Linking personal liberty with the freedom and dignity of every community · Letter, as commonly attributed Hope Truth
