A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," Essays: First Series (1841)
Showing posts with label genius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genius. Show all posts
died of being himself
In 1896 William Morris died at the age of sixty-two. Morris was one of the most talented and respected figures in the Victorian Era, but the superhuman range and pace of his vocations—painter, architect, designer, craftsman, writer, book-maker, socialist crusader—caused one physician to attribute his death to "simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men."
http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=10/3/1896
http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=10/3/1896
command of metaphor
It is a great matter to observe propriety in these several modes of expression, as also in compound words, strange (or rare) words, and so forth. But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.
—Aristotle, Poetics, translated by S. H. Butcher, Section III, Part XXII
—Aristotle, Poetics, translated by S. H. Butcher, Section III, Part XXII
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