We ought not to extract pernicious honey from poison blossoms of misrepresentation and mendacious half-truth, to pamper the course appetite of bigotry and self-love.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward; it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.
Interpretation
Poetry enriches life by encouraging an appreciation for beauty and goodness in everything around us.
In this quote, Samuel Taylor Coleridge reflects on the transformative power of poetry in his life. He views poetry not just as a literary form, but as an enriching experience that fosters a desire to seek out beauty and goodness in the world. This perspective suggests that engaging with art can lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of life itself.
In practice
In a speech at a literary festival to inspire budding poets.
We ought not to extract pernicious honey from poison blossoms of misrepresentation and mendacious half-truth, to pamper the course appetite of bigotry and self-love.
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Often do the spirits stride on before the event; and in today already walks tomorrow.
Mr. Lyell's system of geology is just half the truth, and no more. He affirms a great deal that is true, and he denies a great deal which is equally true; which is the general characteristic of all systems not embracing the whole truth.
To believe and to understand are not diverse things, but the same things in different periods of growth.
What's missing in the musical theater is producers willing to nurture new work, raise the money and put it on.
Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of me.
A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue.
The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design.
Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time.
Unlike all the other art forms, film is able to seize and render the passage of time, to stop it, almost to possess it in infinity. I'd say that film is the sculpting of time.
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