That is to say, epic poetry has been invented many times and independently; but, as the needs which prompted the invention have been broadly similar, so the invention itself has been.

The Border Ballads, for instance, and the Robin Hood Ballads, clearly suppose a state of society which is nothing but a very circumscribed and not very important heroic age.

But the gravest difficulty, and perhaps the most important, in poetry meant solely for recitation, is the difficulty of achieving verbal beauty, or rather of making verbal beauty tell.

The balance of private good and general welfare is at the bottom of civilized morals but the morals of the Heroic Age are founded on individuality, and on nothing else.

No poet will ever take the written word as a substitute for the spoken word; he knows that it is on the spoken word, and the spoken word only, that his art is founded.

How to tell students what to look for without telling them what to see is the dilemma of teaching.

The first epics were intended for recitation; the literary epic is meant to be read.

Epic poetry exhibits life in some great symbolic attitude. It cannot strictly be said to symbolize life itself, but always some manner of life.

Poetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities; artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind.

The world knows of a vast stock of epic material scattered up and down the nations; sometimes its artistic value is as extraordinary as its archaeological interest, but not always.

The epic poet collaborates with the spirit of his time in the composition of his work. That is, if he is successful; the time may refuse to work with him, but he may not refuse to work with his time.

There was no need to analyze the feelings that the people caught in the commission of the amorous act, held for each other, for it was literally written in their hands.

Who am I? I am not nothing but this moment in the flow of life. This flow of life is not in my control

These heads sheltered by umbrellas be they of Zeb-un-Nisa, or Catherine of Cleopatra or Fenichka live with their own stories

The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do themselves.

My entire life has been spent thinking about this game. That's pretty narrow... I don't view myself as a person who's well-versed in very many subjects. I'm not proud of that.

I'm excited for people to realize that I'm 25 years old and not a teenager anymore... even though I still look 18 and can't get into a bar to save my life!

The Eagles ended on a rather abrupt note, although in retrospect I realize now that it had been ending for quite some time.

Reading is the basics for all learning.

Strange—we are always inhabiting more than one realm of existence—but they all fit in if the art is right.

I will always enter a race car from the left side. Always. Why? I have no idea.