The fabliau, then, is a short story that is a tall story. It combines a burly blurting of dirty words with a reveling in humiliations that are good u…

- Christopher Ricks

Geniuses are people who notice things and connections between things which others haven't noticed. Genius must be a surprise.

- Christopher Ricks

For it is characteristic of true simplicity that there may radiate from its utmost directness a good many glinting things.

- Christopher Ricks

Geniuses are at work in the rock music field, and great popularity is no proof you aren't good.

- Christopher Ricks

A great work of art is one that continues to repay attention.

- Christopher Ricks

When a language creates - as it does - a community within the present, it does so only by courtesy of a community between the present and the past.

- Christopher Ricks