Always, some great culture is dying to enrich the soil of new harvests, some civlization is crumbling to rubbish to be the hill of a more beautiful city, some race is spending itself that a lower and more barbarous world may inherit its stored treasure house. George Edward Woodberry barbarousbeautifulcity share on social
The poet craves emotion, and feeds the fire that consumes him, and only under this condition is he baptized with creative power. George Edward Woodberry baptizeconditionconsume Change image and share on social
To realize life in the abstract as noble or beautiful or humane, to set it forth so with radiance upon it, that is civilization in the arts. Shakespeare is the chief modern example of this supreme faculty of mankind. George Edward Woodberry abstractartbeautiful share on social
Words are intermediary between thought and things. We express ourselves really not through words, which are only signs, but through what they signify - through things. George Edward Woodberry expressintermediarysign Change image and share on social
'Old times' never come back and I suppose it's just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that's better. George Edward Woodberry backdaymorning Change image and share on social
Who of English speech, bred to the traditions of his race, does not recognize Hamlet in his 'inky cloak' at a glance? Not to know him would argue one's self untaught in the chief glories of his language. George Edward Woodberry arguebreedchief share on social
Shakespeare has been praised in English more than anything mortal except poetry itself. Fame exhausts thought in his eulogy. George Edward Woodberry englisheulogyexhaust Change image and share on social
One can re-create what was in the mind of a mathematician a thousand years ago, recapture the truth of the intellect wherever it may have once come to light; but the image of art, that infinite variable of perception and expression in the individual, - that is not easily re-created, at least, not with certainty and in its original fulness. George Edward Woodberry agoartcertainty share on social
Art does not, like science, set forth a permanent order of nature, the enduring skeleton of law. Two factors primarily determine its works: one is the idea in the mind of the artist, the other is his power of expression; and both these factors are extremely variable. George Edward Woodberry artartistdetermine share on social