“Critics of poetry never seem to be able to keep things in their place, and always demand that a locomotive contain the qualities of a flower-garden, or vice versa.”

Mocking criticism that judges a work by aims it never possessed · Correspondence, A Reply to A. C. H., Poetry, 1919

• Art
• Poetry

“Among the best of these latter people I have found a genuineness, an unassuming candor, a rough sense of humor, and an inquisitive intelligence.”

Praising unpretentious curiosity and honest human warmth · Letter to Burton Rascoe, New York Tribune, 1922

• Friendship
• Truth

“They allow their prejudices to insist that a thing is inevitably inferior if it doesn't contain elements which they personally care most for.”

Exposing personal preference disguised as objective judgement · Correspondence, A Reply to A. C. H., Poetry, 1919

• Art
• Truth