“It’s not bad. It’s not good either. It’s more like nothing—not good or bad, aesthetically or morally.”

Both the highbrow and the lowbrow know their likes and dislikes, but the middlebrow “is the man, or woman, of middlebred intelligence who ambles and saunters now on this side of the hedge, now on that, in pursuit of no single object, neither art itself nor life itself.” The middlebrow is a dishonest consumer of art who prefers smoothed out... See more

You have only to stroll along the Strand on a wet winter’s night and watch the crowds lining up to get into the movies. These lowbrows are waiting, after the day’s work, in the rain, sometimes for hours, to get into the cheap seats and sit in hot theatres in order to see what their lives look like. Since they are lowbrows, engaged magnificently and... See more

The highbrow “is the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea. That is why I have always been so proud to be called highbrow. That is why, if I could be more of a highbrow I would.” She went on to cite some of her highbrow idols—Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Charlotte... See more