“It is necessary for us to explain the involuntary repugnance we possess for the nature and personality of the Jews. The Jews have never produced a true poet. Heinrich Heine reached the point where he duped himself into a poet, and was rewarded by his versified lies being set to music by our own composers. He was the conscience of Judaism, just as Judaism is the evil conscience of our modern civilization.” LyingEvilModernPoetPersonalityCivilizationConscienceJewComposerJudaismInvoluntaryModern Civilization Author:Richard Wagner
“The poet Melvin B. Tolson once said "A civilization is judged only in its decline." That made sense to me. I would imagine the same is true for poets and tennis players.” MadeSaidImaginePlayerPoetCivilizationTennisJudgedDeclineTennis Player Author:Nikki Giovanni
“It is dangerous it seems to me for a civilization when there is a complete abyss betewen people in general and the artists. Or is it always so? The poets who are most ardently on the people's side write in such a way that the people cannot see rhyme nor reason to their work.” PeopleWayWritingReasonSeemsArtistSidesDangerousPoetCivilizationRhymeAbyss Author:May Sarton
“But that so many scholars are barbarians does not much matter so long as a few of them are ready to help with their specialized knowledge the few independent thinkers, that is to say the poets, who try to to keep civilization alive.” TryingLongDoeMatterHelpingAliveReadyPoetCivilizationIndependentThinkerScholarBarbarians Book:The White Goddess Source: The White Goddess
“Everywhere we are told that our human resources are all to be used, that our civilization itself means the uses of everything it has - the inventions, the histories, every scrap of fact. But there is one kind of knowledge - infinitely precious, time-resistant more than monuments, here to be passed between the generations in any way it may be: never to be used. And that is poetry.” WayHumansKindMayMeanFactsUseUsedPoetryKnowledgeGenerationsPoetCivilizationResourcesInventionMonumentUsefulnessHuman ResourcesScrapPrecious Time Author:Muriel Rukeyser
“Poetry is the most direct and simple means of expressing oneself in words: the most primitive nations have poetry, but only quitewell developed civilizations can produce good prose. So don't think of poetry as a perverse and unnatural way of distorting ordinary prose statements: prose is a much less natural way of speaking than poetry is. If you listen to small children, and to the amount of chanting and singsong in their speech, you'll see what I mean.” IfsThinkingWayMeanChildrenPoetryNationsNaturalSimpleProducePoetAmountCivilizationSpeechOrdinaryDirectOneselfStatementsProsePoetry IsPrimitiveUnnaturalSmall ChildChantingExpressing Oneself Author:Northrop Frye
“Wine has been with us since the beginning of civilization. It is the temperate, civilized, sacred, romantic mealtime beverage recommended in the Bible. Wine has been praised for centuries by statesmen, philosophers, poets, and scholars. Wine in moderation is an integral part of our culture, heritage and gracious way of life.” WayHas BeensCultureCenturyPoetCivilizationSacredWinePhilosopherCivilizedHeritageScholarModerationGraciousStatesmenBeverages Author:Robert Mondavi
“Poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult...The poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into its meaning.” IfsOrderLanguageForceDifficultPoetCivilizationComprehensiveIndirect Author:T. S. Eliot
“In the infancy of civilization, when our island was as savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown to Athens, when scarcely a thatched roofed hut stood on what was later the site of Rome, this contemned people had their fenced cities and cedar palaces, their splendid Temple, their fleets of merchant ships, their schools of sacred learning, their great statesmen and soldiers, their natural philosophers, their historians and their poets.” PeopleArtStillsSchoolNaturalCitiesPoetCivilizationLettersSacredSoldierPhilosopherJewShipsIslandsTemplesHistorianRomeSavagesSitePalacesSplendidStatesmenMerchantsInfancyAthensHutsGuineaCedars Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
“The worth of a civilization or a culture is not valued in the terms of its material wealth or military power, but by the quality and achievements of its representative individuals - its philosophers, its poets and its artists.” ArtistCultureLiteratureIndividualTermWealthQualityMilitaryPoetMaterialsCivilizationAchievementPhilosopherProsperityRepresentativesMilitary PowerMaterial Wealth Book:Selected writings: poetry and criticism Source: Selected writings: poetry and criticism