“Shakespeare’s fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.”
On Dramatic Poetry (1758)
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Denis Diderot 106
French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist 1713–1784Related quotes

Me & Rumi (2004)

“I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets.”
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.
“A person with taste is merely one who can recognize the greatest beauty in the simplest things.”
Source: Her Own Rules

Poetry
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XII - The Enfant Terrible of Literature

“A condition which of declension would indicate a devil, may of growth indicate a saint.”
The Consuming Fire
Unspoken Sermons, First Series (1867)

“See I'm a poet to some, a regular modern day Shakespeare”
"Renegade"

Speech to the City of London School (13 June 1924), quoted in On England, and Other Addresses (1926), p. 120.
1924

Mont Saint Michel and Chartres (1904)

"On the Knowledge of Character"
Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/TableHazIV.htm (1821-1822)