Quotes by Matthew Arnold

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Poetry is nothing but man's most perfect speech, the speech in which man comes closest to being able to speak the truth.

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The great problem of modern poetry - a moral interpretation, from an independent point of view, of man and the world.

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The great eras of literature are so rare...because in the creation of a masterpiece two forces must compete: the force of man and the force of the moment, man not being enough if the moment is missing.

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The future of poetry is boundless, for in poetry, when it is worthy of its great destiny, our species will find, as time goes on, an ever more secure support.

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The critical capacities are inferior to the creative ones... The expression of the power of creation, of the free creative energy, is the highest function of man.

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Culture is an aspiration towards melodic harmony and light, it is important that both harmony and light prevail.

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Culture is an aspiration to perfection by knowing what worries us most, what we think and talk about...

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I'm over thirty years old and I've already covered myself in ice three-quarters of the way.

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We forget out of necessity, and not out of desire.

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In the boundless ocean of slander called "history," one wave, even a large one, does not count.

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We spend three quarters of our lives on behavioral science.

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Our religion is the religion of inequality.

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Inequality naturally leads to the mercantilism of the upper class, the vulgarization of the middle class, and the ferocity of the lower class.

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A nation is truly great not when it consists of a large number of thinking, free, and energetic men, but when thought, freedom, and energy are subservient to an ideal higher than that of the average member of society.

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A critic would be useful to a practical man only if he were not too indulgent with his tastes, with his vision of the world.

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The truth freezes on the lips of the dying.

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I only believe in culture. Culture, if we think about it more deeply, is not based on curiosity, but on the love of perfection; culture is the knowledge of perfection. Cultured people are the true apostles of equality.

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To create a literary masterpiece, it is not enough to have talent. Talent must feel the time. Talent and time are inseparable...

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For poetry the idea is everything... Poetry gives feeling to the idea...

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It's great to have your own opinions, but in the end what matters is what kind of opinions they are.

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A philosopher's power over the world consists not in metaphysical conclusions, but in the highest meaning by which he has arrived at these conclusions...

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Genius depends above all on energy.

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To me, criticism is an unbiased attempt to understand and convey the best in the world of facts and ideas.

"God is the limitless being which accepts only truth."

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Wandering between two worlds: one is dead. The other isn't even born yet.

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Would it be an insignificant thing to enjoy the sun, bathe in the light of spring, love someone, think about the other?

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Don't be a saint, don't lead a wrong philosophy, but be a man.

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Visit me in my dreams, and the awakening will be happier. Because at night I forget that desire is hopeless during the day.

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You dead world, and you weak, unborn... We wander hesitantly among you.

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Excellence is a state of mind that rightly arouses love, interest, and admiration; and the external proof of excellence is that we arouse love, interest and admiration.