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Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold Quotes

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Famous Matthew Arnold Quotes

“The study of letters is the study of the operation of human force, of human freedom and activity; the study of nature is the study of the operation of non-human forces, of human limitation and passivity. The contemplation of human force and activity tends naturally to heighten our own force and activity; the contemplation of human limits and passivity tends rather to check it. Therefore the men who have had the humanistic training have played, and yet play, so prominent a part in human affairs, in spite of their prodigious ignorance of the universe.”

MenHumansPlayScienceUniverseForceEducationStudyIgnoranceHe ManActivityLimitsTrainingLettersAffairChecksLimitationOperationsContemplationSpiteProminentPassivityHuman FreedomHumanisticProdigious
Book:Schools and Universities on the Continent
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“What actions are the most excellent? Those, certainly, which most powerfully appeal to the great primary human affections: to those elementary feelings which subsist permanently in the race, and which are independent of time. These feelings are permanent and the same; that which interests them is permanent and the same also.”

HumansFeelingsActionInterestRaceIndependentAffectionPrimariesAppealsExcellentPermanentMost Powerful
Book:On the Classical Tradition
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“Alas! is even love too weak To unlock the heart, and let it speak? Are even lovers powerless to reveal To one another what indeed they feel? I knew the mass of men conceal'd Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd They would by other men be met With blank indifference, or with blame reproved; I knew they lived and moved Trick'd in disguises, alien to the rest Of men, and alien to themselves - and yet The same heart beats in every human breast!”

IfsMenLifeFeelsHumansHeartSpeakLoversMetsMassBeatsWeakBlameMovedTricksAliensIndifferenceBreastsBlankDisguisePowerlessAlasHeart Beat
Book:Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold (Illustrated)
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