“Shakespeare is a good raft whereon to float securely down the stream of time; fasten yourself to that and your immortality is safe.”
On Actors and the Art of Acting (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1875) p. 60
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George Henry Lewes 54
British philosopher 1817–1878Related quotes

Last Laugh ‘06 (2006)

Fifty-One Tales http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/851ta10.txt, The Raft-Builders

“If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.”
Writers on Writing interview (1986)

“Seek opportunity, not security. A boat in the harbor is safe, but in time its bottom will rot out.”
Source: The Complete Life's Little Instruction Book

Founding Address (1876), Life and Destiny (1913)
Context: It is not possible to enter into the nature of the Good by standing aloof from it — by merely speculating upon it. Act the Good, and you will believe in it. Throw yourself into the stream of the world's good tendency and you will feel the force of the current and the direction in which it is setting. The conviction that the world is moving toward great ends of progress will come surely to him who is himself engaged in the work of progress.
By ceaseless efforts to live the good life we maintain our moral sanity. Not from without, but from within, flow the divine waters that renew the soul.

“I suppose half the time Shakespeare just shoved down anything that came into his head.”

As quoted in Contemporary Authors New Revision Series: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, & Other Fields (1982) by Ann Evory
Context: I talk about the things people have always talked about in stories: pain, hate, truth, courage, destiny, friendship, responsibility, growing old, growing up, falling in love, all of these things. What I try to write about are the darkest things in the soul, the mortal dreads. I try to go into those places in me that contain the cauldrous. I want to dip up the fire, and I want to put it on paper. The closer I get to the burning core of my being, the things which are most painful to me, the better is my work. … It is a love/hate relationship I have with the human race. I am an elitist, and I feel that my responsibility is to drag the human race along with me — that I will never pander to, or speak down to, or play the safe game. Because my immortal soul will be lost.