“Knowledge of Rome must be physical, sweated into the system, worked up into the brain through the thinning shoe-leather. ... When it comes to knowing, the senses are more honest than the intelligence. Nothing is more real than the first wall you lean up against sobbing with exhaustion. Rome no more than beheld (that is, taken in through the eyes only) could still be a masterpiece in cardboard - the eye I suppose being of all the organs the most easily infatuated and then jaded and so tricked. Seeing is pleasure, but not knowledge.”
Quote by Elizabeth Bowen
Author
Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen was an Irish-born British novelist known for her intricate psychological portrayals and profound insights into British society from the late Victorian era to the mid-20th century. Her works often focus on female characters, exploring themes of family, love, class, and identity. more
You May Also Like
“I do like Italian graves; they look so much more lived in.”
Source: The Hotel: A Novel
Source: The Heat of the Day
Source: Collected Impressions
Source: The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen
“Meetings that do not come off keep a character of their own. They stay as they were projected.”
Source: The House In Paris
“memory is to love what the saucer is to the cup.”
Source: The House In Paris
“Silence sat in the taxi, as though a stranger had got in.”
Source: The House In Paris
Source: Collected Impressions