“If a poet really sorrows over the death of a friend to that degree that he cannot, as a relief to the soul, refrain from pouring out his sorrow in song, I think his utterance should be natural and straightforward.”

Insisting that genuine grief in poetry should sound natural rather than affected · Reminiscences and Opinions, 1886

• Death
• Friendship
• Poetry

“An average English intellect requires time to take in and digest what you say to it.”

Arguing that listeners need time to absorb spoken thought · Reminiscences and Opinions, 1886

• Art
• Truth

“If I failed to teach, I gathered out of my failure some instruction for myself, which he never managed to do.”

Finding a lesson for himself in a failed attempt to teach · Reminiscences and Opinions, 1886

• Childhood
• Truth