Hamlet is egotism as it appears to itself, and Don Quixote is egotism as it appears to the detached observer. - Hugh Kingsmill

Writers are idolized not because they love their fellow men, which is never a recommendation and in extreme instances leads to crucifixion, but because their self-love is in tune with current fears and desires, and in giving it expression they are speaking for an inarticulate multitude.

What, still alive at twenty-two,
A clean upstanding chap like you?What still alive at twenty-two,
Sure, if your throat ’tis hard to slit,
Slit your girl’s, and swing for it.

'Tis Summer Time on Bredon,
And now the farmers swear:
The cattle rise and listen
In valleys far and near,
And blush at what they hear.But when the mists in autumn
On Bredon top are thick,
And happy hymns of farmers
Go up from fold and rick,
The cattle then are sick.