Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
According to Goethe, Byron’s poetical power eclipsed all other mortals, and he was not held back by petty morality, being possessed of a virtue of which the bourgeoisie had no conception.
Alan Cardew • Lord Byron: The Perils and Glories of a Classical Education
He had a great amount of intellectual capacity, of that peculiar kind which raises a man from throne to throne and lets him die loaded with honours without having either amused or enlightened the mind of a single man.
G. K. Chesterton • The G. K. Chesterton Collection [50 Books]
Edward VII ruled the British Empire with a slightly pudgy cigar-stained hand, assuring his subjects that duty was important but so too was fun. “It doesn’t matter what you do,” he said, “so long as you don’t frighten the horses.”
Erik Larson • Thunderstruck
Perhaps the most thoroughly brilliant and typical man of this decade is Mr. Bernard Shaw.