“Contemplate a thing with all your powers—intellectual and moral—at once, and find a word or phrase that is the algebraic expression of that combination of forces and you speak Poetry.”

Describing poetry as concentrated expression of the whole perceiving mind · Unpublished notes, Poetry and Art

• Poetry
• Truth

“It is merely silence of the hand, not of the heart.”

Distinguishing an inability to write from any failure of affection · Letter to his parents, 27 February 1857

• Friendship
• Love

“Art should be an instrument of this progress by always selecting the best phase of every individual, the best form of every type—i.e. the Ideal.”

Giving art a role in preserving and advancing ideal forms · Unpublished notes, Poetry and Art

• Art
• Beauty
• Hope