A. E. Housman

Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936) Poet , Scholar and Satirist

Sourced

• "The average man, if he meddles with criticism at all, is a conservative critic. His opinions are determined not by his reason -- 'the bulk of mankind' says Swift 'is as well qualified for flying as for thinking' -- but by his passions; and the faintest of all human passions is the love of truth. He believes that the text of ancient authors is generally sound, not because he has acquainted himself with the elements of the problem, but because he would feel uncomfortable if he did not believe it; just as he believes, on the same cogent evidence, that he is a fine fellow, and that he will rise again from the dead."
  • Introduction to Astronomicon of Manlius, Lib I. Cambridge: CUP, 1937, pg xliii

Attributed

• "And malt does more than Milton can To justify God's ways to man."

• (On coming from Oxford) "I find Cambridge an asylum, in every sense of the word"

• "In every American there is an air of incorrigible innocence, which seems to conceal a diabolical cunning."

• "Who made the world I cannot tell; 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, I never soiled with such a deed.

• "Great Literature should do some good to the reader: must quicken his perception though dull, and sharpen his discrimination though blunt, and mellow the rawness of his personal opinions."

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