“Did the gods once mingle with humankind, or is Homer a visionary madman, or, what is worse, a mere poet, a maker-up of beautiful falsities, an elegant liar? I shall grapple with that perplexity, only to emerge as I went in, in a cloud of unknowing, if perhaps a little the wiser.” IfsLittlesBeautifulPoetMereCloudsLiarsMakersHumankindWiserElegantVisionariesMadmenPerplexityFalsityUnknowing Book:Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad Source: Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad
“Plato, by the way, wanted to banish all poets from his proposed Utopia because they were liars. The truth was that Plato knew philosophers couldn't compete successfully with poets.” WayWantedPoetPhilosopherLiarsPlatoUtopia Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“Poets themselves, tho' liars by profession, always endeavour to give an air of truth to their fictions.” GivingFictionAirPoetProfessionLiarsEndeavour Author:David Hume
“Plato said that poets should be excluded from the ideal republic because they are such liars. I am a poet, and I affirm that this is true. About no subject are poets tempted to lie so much as about their own lives; I know one of them who has floated at least five versions of his autobiography, none of them true. I of course - being also a novelist - am a much more truthful person than that. But since poets lie, how can you believe me?” KnowsShouldBelievePersonsSaidLyingCoursesFiveSubjectsPoetIdealsVersionsNovelistsLiarsRepublicTruthfulBelieve In MeAutobiographyPlatoTemptedExcluded Author:Margaret Atwood
“If you want to become a man of letters and perhaps write some Histories one day, you must also lie and invent tales, otherwise your History would become monotonous. But you must act with restraint. The world condemns liars who do nothing but lie, even about the most trivial things, and it rewards poets, who lie only about the greatest things.” IfsMenWorldWantWritingLyingPoetOne DayLettersRewardsTalesLiarsRestraintMonotonousTrivial Things Book:Baudolino Source: Baudolino