Remarks by Barry Cornwall | V2Melody Quotations

“Fighting is an unsatisfactory way of coming at the truth.”

Condemning violence as a poor means of resolving human conflict · Letter to James T. Fields, quoted in the 1877 biographical volume

Truth
War

“I do not think it decent to manufacture the sweet liquor myself.”

Mocking the vanity of manufacturing one's own praise · Letter to James T. Fields, quoted in the 1877 biographical volume

Fame
Truth

“I, like all authors, am glad to have a little praise now and then (it is my hydromel), but it must be dispensed by others.”

Admitting the sweetness of praise while rejecting self-promotion · Letter to James T. Fields, quoted in the 1877 biographical volume

Art
Fame

“If life itself were not a pleasure, the utility even of its necessaries might very well be questioned.”

Arguing that usefulness ultimately depends upon life's capacity for pleasure · Essay, A Defence of Poetry, quoted in the 1877 biographical volume

Joy
Truth

“After all, poetry is no more a fiction than are certain maxims of law and state.”

Defending imaginative art as a legitimate vehicle for truth · Essay, A Defence of Poetry, quoted in the 1877 biographical volume

“He denied admittance to a poet in his ideal republic; and his republic has remained ideal.”

Wittily answering Plato's exclusion of poets · Essay, A Defence of Poetry, quoted in the 1877 biographical volume

Art
Poetry

“The world is not gazing at you with all its eyes. It has other things to contemplate.”

A bracing reminder against artistic self-importance · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter IV (published posthumously, 1877)

Fame
Truth

“Know that the roads to fortune are always uncertain.”

Warning young writers that merit cannot guarantee success · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter IV (published posthumously, 1877)

Fame
Truth

“This pleasant pain, of which all poets have spoken, was mine.”

Capturing love's mingling of delight and suffering · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter IV (published posthumously, 1877)

Love
Poetry

“As a step in philosophy, and in order to render myself thoroughly acquainted with trouble, I fell in love.”

Treating youthful love with affectionate self-mockery · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter IV (published posthumously, 1877)

Joy
Love

“I have now forgotten all my mathematics and arithmetic, all my Greek, and almost all my Latin; but I cleave to those who were true nurses of my boyhood still.”

Valuing formative books and storytellers above forgotten instruction · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“Let no one despise the benefits which thus open the young and tender heart. They are the gates of knowledge.”

Linking emotional awakening with genuine understanding · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“When we encounter a new idea it surprises us, and we begin to doubt and examine it—and this is thought.”

Defining thought as active examination rather than passive acceptance · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“The heart of a man is wider than that of a child.”

Suggesting that emotional capacity deepens with experience · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“These questions lie between him and God.”

Placing ultimate moral accountability beyond human law · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

Faith
Truth

“There are some faults which are not crimes at all.”

Distinguishing moral failure from punishable wrongdoing · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“In earthly justice there is no pity. It is defective in nice distinctions.”

Contrasting legal judgement with moral compassion · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“By the aid of these and other distresses, I began to learn something of the nature of compassion.”

Recognising suffering as a severe education in empathy · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“I was utterly mistaken. Indeed, it was not long before I discovered that he had qualities which were superior to my own.”

A candid admission of prejudice corrected by acquaintance · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“We love or pity individuals, not multitudes, and we cannot, if we would, forget them.”

Locating lasting compassion in the recognition of individual lives · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“I do not remember a scholar—scarcely a dunce. No one was an expert, even in crime.”

Wryly portraying an undistinguished but peaceable village · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“What teacher has ever endeavored to instil into his pupils the value of weeds or grasses, of animal or vegetable nature... the wonders of space, or of the seasons; of night, of silence?”

Calling for education to include wonder, observation and silence · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“Let no one despise any means by which the intellect of a boy may be widened or strengthened.”

Advocating a broad and humane education · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

“Your thoughts, which have hitherto been obscured by boyish things, become refined; your sight opens and admits wider sights and more gentle objects.”

Describing maturity as an expansion of perception and sympathy · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

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