Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnoldwas an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. Matthew Arnold has been characterised as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth24 December 1822
governing
The governing idea of Hellenism is spontaneity of consciousness; that of Hebraism, strictness of conscience.
apollo leader leading tis
Tis Apollo comes leading / His choir, the Nine. / The leader is fairest, / But all are divine.
enjoyed lived small
It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done.
english-poet perfection
Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.
morality religion simply touched
The true meaning of religion is thus, not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion.
high quick soon thou wilt
Too quick despairer, wherefore wilt thou go? / Soon will the high midsummer pomps come on.
god light pursuit reason sweetness works
The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light. . . ./ He who works for sweetness and light united, works to make reason and the will of God prevail.
practice use higher
Use your gifts faithfully, and they shall be enlarged; practice what you know, and you shall attain to higher knowledge.
becoming life-is
Life is not having and getting, but being and becoming
writing secret famous-writers
Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
time together world
If there ever comes a time when the women of the world come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known.
sea solitude thrown
Yes! in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery wild, We mortal millions live alone.
miracle fairy witchcraft
Miracles are doomed; they will drop out like fairies and witchcraft, from...
life-is obscure
I keep saying, Shakespeare, Shakespeare, you are as obscure as life is.