“The old definition of poetry as emotion remembered in tranquillity is true, and just now it is especially true.” Affirming Wordsworth's definition amid war · Interview, 1915 Emotion Poetry Tranquillity
“I do not believe and never have believed in the pacifist who says that a man shall not defend himself or his country from attack or that treaties should be broken with impunity.” On just defence and the rule of law · Interview, 1915 Justice Patriotism Peace
“It is significant that it is almost impossible to remember a free-verse poem or to distinguish the style of one author of it from another.” Critique of formlessness in free verse · Interview, 1932 Form Poetry Style
“Poetry, the most concentrated form of literature, gives so much in small space, and hence survives more vitally than other forms.” On the enduring power of poetry · Interview, 1932 Concentration Endurance Poetry
“The art of poetry has been so much a part of my own life that I am unable to think of it except as one speaks of the innermost sanctuary.” On the sacred place of poetry in personal life · Lecture, 1913 Devotion Poetry Sanctity
“We are in danger of intellectual disintegration. It is time to make some synthesis or we ourselves shall be wandering through a world without meaning.” Call for a unified vision in a fragmented age · Lecture, 1913 Culture Integration Meaning
“Science has accomplished marvels for the material comforts of mankind, but it has been divorced from philosophy and it has misled the world by suggesting that the greater values can be produced by the less.” On the spiritual poverty of materialism · Speech, Conference of Universities, 1933 Philosophy Science Values
“The analytical specialist, in every department of thought, has been leading the world along a diminishing road, which eventually runs out into nothingness.” Critique of hyper-specialisation in education · Speech, Conference of Universities, 1933 Education Knowledge Society
“We have followed the road of inductive reason, rightly enough for certain temporal purposes, and devoted ourselves to analytical methods, forgetting that the intellect and spirit of man have other faculties, nobler and more profound.” Warning against the limits of purely analytical thought · Speech, Conference of Universities, 1933 Knowledge Mind Reason
“A poem is a thought caught in a mood.” Suggesting that poetry unites reflection with a transient emotional atmosphere · Prose remark, commonly attributed to Alfred Noyes Art Beauty Poetry
