Preface.
The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717)
Context: I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets. What we call a Genius, is hard to be distinguish'd by a man himself, from a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he can not at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken.
“All poets write bad poetry. Bad poets publish them, good poets burn them.”
On Dramatic Poetry (1758)
“There is no book so bad," said the bachelor, "but something good may be found in it.”
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 3.
“One may quote bad poetry if it is by a great poet.”
On peut citer de mauvais vers, quand ils sont d'un grand poète.
Letter 4: Le Vicomte de Valmont to la Marquise de Merteuil. Trans. P.W.K. Stone (1961). http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Les_Liaisons_dangereuses_-_Lettre_4
Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)
“That bad manners are so prevalent in the world is the fault of good manners.”
Dass soviel Ungezogenheit gut durch die Welt kommt, daran ist die Wohlerzogenheit schuld.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 72.
Source: "Philip Massinger", a biographical essay in The Sacred Wood (1920)
How a Young Man ought to hear Poems, 4
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
