Whatever You Believe To Be

"there Is One Basis Of Science," Says Descartes, "one Test And Rule Of Truth, Namely, That Whatever Is Clearly And Distinctly Conceived Is True." A Profound Psychological Mistake. It Is True Only Of Formal Logic, Wherein The Mind Never Quits The Sphere Of Its First Assumptions To Pass Out Into The Sphere Of Real Existences; No Sooner Does The Mind Pass From The Internal Order To The External Order, Than The Necessity Of Verifying The Strict Correspondence Between The Two Becomes Absolute. The Ideal Test Must Be Supplemented By The Real Test, To Suit The New Conditions Of The Problem.

Literature Is At Once The Cause And The Effect Of Social Progress.

I Have Always Considered The Merry Wives One Of The Worst Plays, If Not Altogether The Worst, That Shakespeare Has Left Us. The Wit For The Most Part Is Dreary Or Foolish; The Tone Is Coarse And Farcical; And The Characters Want The Fine Distinctive Touches He So Well Knew How To Give. If Some Luckless Wight Had Written Such A Comedy In Our Time, I Should Like To See What The Critics Would Say To It?

Good Writers Are Of Necessity Rare.

Books Have Become Our Dearest Companions, Yielding Exquisite Delights And Inspiring Lofty Aims.