Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
St. 1
Rugby Chapel (1867)
“The commonplace needs no defence,
Dullness is in the critic’s eyes,
Without a licence life evolves
From some dim phase its own surprise;
Under these yellow-twinkling elms,
Behind these hedges trimly shorn,
As in a stable once, so here
It may be born, it may be born.”
"The Bungalows", line 45, from A Shot in the Park (London: Jonathan Cape, 1955).
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "The commonplace needs no defence,
Dullness is in the critic’s eyes,
Without a licence life evolves
From some dim pha…" by William Plomer?
William Plomer7
South African-British writer 1903–1973Related quotes
“You may as well expect pears from an elm.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 40.
T.S. Eliot book The Hollow Men
The Hollow Men (1925) <br class="br">Context: This is the dead land<br>This is cactus land<br>Here the stone images<br>Are raised, here they receive<br>The supplication of a dead man's hand<br>Under the twinkle of a fading star.<br>[... ]<br>The eyes are not here<br>There are no eyes here<br>In this valley of dying stars<br>In this hollow valley<br>This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms<br> In this last of meeting places<br>We grope together<br>And avoid speech<br> http://aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Notesonpoem.htm#fiftysevensixtyGathered on this beach of the tumid river<br> Sightless, unless<br>The eyes reappear http://aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Notesonpoem.htm#sixtyonesixtytwo<br> As the perpetual star<br>Multifoliate rose http://aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Notesonpoem.htm#sixtyfoursixtythree<br>Of death's twilight kingdom<br>The hope only<br>Of empty men.
Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet
Letter http://books.google.com/books?id=R8ksAAAAIAAJ&q=%22I+own+any+form+of+humor+shows+fear+and+inferiority+Irony+is+simply+a+kind+of+guardedness+So+is+a+twinkle+It+keeps+the+reader+from+criticism%22+%22Humor+is+the+most+engaging+cowardice%22&pg=PA166#v=onepage to Louis Untermeyer (10 March 1924) <br class="br">General sources <br class="br">Context: I own any form of humor shows fear and inferiority. Irony is simply a kind of guardedness. So is a twinkle. It keeps the reader from criticism. Whittier, when he shows any style at all is probably a greater person than Longfellow as he is lifted priestlike above consideration of the scornful. Belief is better than anything else, and it is best when rapt, above paying its respects to anybody's doubt whatsoever. At bottom the world isn't a joke. We only joke about it to avoid an issue with someone to let someone know that we know he's there with his questions: to disarm him by seeming to have heard and done justice to this side of the standing argument. Humor is the most engaging cowardice.
John Keble (1792–1866) English churchman and poet, a leader of the Oxford Movement
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 90.
Kevin Kelly (1952) American author and editor
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World (1995)
Andy Kessler (1958) American writer
Part IV, Intellectual Property, The Yen-Scary Trade, p. 165.
Running Money (2004) First Edition
“I was so surprised at being born that I didn't speak for a year and a half.”
Gracie Allen (1902–1964) American actress and comedienne
As quoted in Gracie : A Love Story (1988) by George Burns, p. 17