James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowellwas an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth22 February 1819
CountryUnited States of America
James Russell Lowell quotes about
brave literature weak
Fortune is the rod of the weak, and the staff of the brave.
idols idolatry worshippers
The idol is the measure of the worshipper.
generations enthusiasm abiding
Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm, eloquence produces conviction for the moment; but it is only by truth to Nature and the everlasting institutions of mankind that those abiding influences are won that enlarge from generation to generation.
ruins moral supremacy
Moral supremacy is the only one that leaves monuments, and not ruins, behind it.
half taste suits
Stories now, to suit a public taste, must be half epigram, half pleasant vice.
society rotten ripe
The time is ripe, and rotten-ripe, for change.
brave simplicity ridiculous
Truth is quite beyond the reach of satire. There is so brave a simplicity in her that she can no more be made ridiculous than an oak or a pine.
generations sap literature
Literature, properly so called, draws its sap from the deep soil of human nature's common and everlasting sympathies, the gathered leaf-mound of countless generations, and not from any top dressing capriciously scattered over the surface.
sight spirit grows
With every anguish of our earthly part The spirit's sight grows clearer.
tradition eternal-life originals
There is only one thing better than tradition and that is the original and eternal life out of which all tradition takes its rise.
materials
The material of thought re-acts upon the thought itself.
mud soil
No mud can soil us but the mud we throw.
youth young gifts-of-life
To be young is surely the best, if the most precarious, gift of life.
onward-and-upward ancient uncouth
Time makes ancient good uncouth.