William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simmswas a poet, novelist and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced. He is still known among literary scholars as a major force in antebellum Southern literature. He is also remembered for his strong support of slavery and for his opposition to Uncle Tom's Cabin, in response to which he wrote reviews and a pro-slavery novel...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
William Gilmore Simms quotes about
The only true source of politeness is consideration.
The only true source of politeness is consideration,--that vigilant moral sense which never loses sight of the rights, the claims, and the sensibilities of others. This is the one quality, over all others, necessary to make a gentleman.
The dread of criticism is the death of genius.
Our possessions are wholly in our performances. He owns nothing to whom the world owes nothing.
We must calculate not on the weather, nor on fortune, but upon God and ourselves. He may fail us in the gratification of our wishes, but never in the encounter with our exigencies.
Better that we should err in action than wholly refuse to perform. The storm is so much better than the calm, as it declares the presence of a living principle. Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption also.
Philosophy has its bugbears, as well as superstition.
Ambition is frequently the only refuge which life has left to the denied or mortified affections. We chide at the grasping eye, the daring wing, the soul that seems to thirst for sovereignty only, and know not that the flight of this ambitious bird has been from a bosom or home that is filled with ashes.
The birth of a child is the imprisonment of a soul.
I know not that there is anything in nature more soothing to the mind than the contemplation of the moon, sailing, like some planetary bark, amidst a sea of bright azure. The subject is certainly hackneyed; the moon has been sung by poet and poetaster. Is there any marvel that it should be so?
Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption, also.
Have I done anything for society? I have then done more for myself. Let that question and truth be always present to thy mind, and work without cessation.
Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful; the proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.
He who would acquire fame must not show himself afraid of censure. The dread of censure is the death of genius.