“I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and silencing them forever.” MenWorldHas BeensImportantSpiritSocialForeverHe ManCapableCriticalConvincedAccomplishedRitualPreservationBarbarismSocial SystemsInquiringSilencingCritical Spirit Book:It Can't Happen Here Source: It Can't Happen Here
“American literature has been, and is, singularly deficient in established critics who have anything like a rational conception of their jobs. The majority, initiate in a few of the patent rituals of Aristotle and Quintilian, don the forbidding robes of high priests to Sweetness and Light, and go about their business much as if the idea were to keep all they know to themselves.” IfsKnowsHas BeensIdeasLightJobsLiteratureMajorityCriticsRationalPriestsConceptionRitualSweetnessRobesPatentsInitiateAmerican Literature Author:Burton Rascoe