“There is no work of genius which has not been the delight of mankind, no word of genius to which the human heart and soul have not sooner or later responded.”
Literary Essays, vol. II (1870–1890), Rousseau and the Sentimentalists
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James Russell Lowell 175
American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat 1819–1891Related quotes

Preface of M. Quetelet
A Treatise on Man and the Development of His Faculties (1842)
Context: The words cited from my work, when viewed isolatedly, are far from expressing the idea which I wished to attach to them. The works of genius upon which our judgments bear are in general complex; for there is no work, constructed by genius, which does not suppose the exercise of various of its faculties. A skilful analysis could alone make out the part of each of them...

Source: Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato (1713), Line 1.

“Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind”
No. 166 (10 September 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Context: Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.