Not drunk is he who from the floor - Can rise alone and still drink more; But drunk is They, who prostrate lies, Without the power to drink or rise.
Thomas Love PeacockRead
The critic does his utmost to blight genius in its infancy; that which rises in spite of him he will not see; and then he complains of the decline of literature.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Critics often stifle creativity and fail to recognize new talent, yet they lament the decline in art and literature.
In this quote, Thomas Love Peacock highlights the role of critics in shaping artistic expression. He suggests that critics, by discouraging new and innovative ideas, can hinder creative genius. However, even as they fail to acknowledge what emerges despite their negativity, they cast blame on the decline of literature and art, overlooking their own contributions to this decline. This reflects a common phenomenon where the voices criticizing the arts may inadvertently contribute to its stagnation.
Themes
CriticismCreativityLiteratureArtGenius
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be cited during a workshop on embracing creative risks.
More from Thomas Love Peacock
All quotes →Man yields to death; and man's sublimest works_x000D_ _x000D_ Must yield at length to Time.
Thomas Love PeacockRead
Similar quotes
I have a vast 'bone pile' of stillborn or abandoned poems along with jottings and wisps from the great beyond that I tend to scan. Sometimes that leads somewhere, and sometimes the Muse is just on sabbatical.
Maxine KuminRead
Now why should the cinema follow the forms of theater and painting rather than the methodology of language, which allows wholly new concepts of ideas to arise from the combination of two concrete denotations of two concrete objects?
Sergei EisensteinRead
So every creative act strives to attain an absolute status; it longs to create a world of beauty to triumph over chaos and convert it to order.
Rowan WilliamsRead
The slightest thing can ruin a scene, but you must be willing to take chances.
William WylerRead
Comics deal with fundamental archetypes. We've been called the myth-makers of the modern age.
Chris ClaremontRead
Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe.
Kirk DouglasRead