“To be a textual critic requires aptitude for thinking and willingness to think; and though it also requires other things, those things are supplements and cannot be substitutes. Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head.”

—  A.E. Housman

"The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism", a lecture delivered on August 4, 1921

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A.E. Housman photo
A.E. Housman69
English classical scholar and poet 1859–1936

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