The greatest poets never write poetry. The Homers and Shake… - Samuel Butler

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The greatest poets never write poetry. The Homers and Shakespeares are not the greatest — they are only the greatest that we can know. And so with Handel among musicians. For the highest poetry, whether in music or literature, is ineffable — it must be felt from one person to another, it cannot be articulated.

Samuel Butler

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About Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (December 4, 1835 – June 18, 1902) was a British satirist, most famous for his novels Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh.

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Alternative Names: Cellarius

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Samuel Butler Arthur Schopenhauer Michel de Montaigne Friedrich Nietzsche Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Additional quotes by Samuel Butler

There are two classes, those who want to know and do not care whether others think they know or not, and those who do not much care about knowing but care very greatly about being reputed as knowing.

Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch cold on over-exposure.

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger, but we care less about it.

The greatest poets never write poetry. The Homers and Shakespeares are not the greatest — they are only the greatest that we can know. And so with Ha… - Samuel Butler

About Samuel Butler

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