“I do not like to write a Preface. I do not think a volume of verse should need one.”

A wry preference for letting the poems stand alone · Preface to the third edition of Babe Christabel (1854)

• Modesty
• Poetry
• Prefaces

“Above all, Poverty is a cold place to write Poetry in. It is not attractive to poetical influences. The Muses do not like entertainment which is not fit for man or beast.”

Rejecting the romantic notion that hardship necessarily nourishes art · Preface to the third edition of Babe Christabel (1854)

• Poetry
• Poverty
• Work

“There are conditions in which many of the poor exist, where humanity must be either rebel or slave. For the slave, degradation and moral death are certain; but for the rebel there is always a chance of becoming conqueror.”

Insisting that resistance offers dignity where submission does not · Preface to the third edition of Babe Christabel (1854)

• Freedom
• Poverty
• Rebellion

“They must find it hard to take Truth for authority who have so long mistaken Authority for Truth.”

A sharp defence of independent judgement over inherited dogma · Lecture (A Retort, c. 1900)

• Authority
• Truth
• Wisdom