In appreciation of Sublime
I collect quotes that help capture the spirit of either what Sublime does or why I appreciate it
In appreciation of Sublime
“You may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
Samson Brass’s confession, Dickens’ The Curiosity Shop
We are as solid as most truly false things are—a dance of particles in space. Only the things no one can touch are true, as you should know by now.
Gene Wolfe • Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of 'The Book of the New Sun'
'I am afraid you have some deep scheme in your head,' said Newman, doubtfully. 'So deep,' replied his young friend, 'that even I can't fathom it.
Charles Dickens • Nicholas Nickleby: By Charles Dickens : Illustrated
that glorious vision of doing good, which is so often the sanguine mirage of so many good minds,
Charles Dickens • A Tale of Two Cities
Do you, I wonder, little children, who read this story? Or are you like the boy in the kindergarten to whom I was telling a fairy story and who interrupted me contemptuously with the remark: "Fairies don't exist!" "O don't they my little man!" said I. "Well you think so." Presently we read of a ball that grew, and he spoke again with great energy:
... See moreMargaret Arndt • Fairy Tales from the German Forests
"Go, my son, and do something worth doing,"
George MacDonald • Phantastes, a Faerie Romance for Men and Women
Thornton Wilder, The Eighth Day
“Life is surrounded by mysteries beyond the comprehension of our limited minds. You and I have seen them. We transmit (we hope) fairer things than we can fully grasp.”
But, it is well known, what strikes the capricious mind of the poet is not always what affects the mass of readers. Now, while admiring, as others doubtless will admire, the details we have to relate, our main preoccupation concerned a matter to which no one before ourselves had given a thought. D'Artagnan