Nothing is such an obstacle to the production of excellence as the power of producing what is good with ease and rapidity.
—John Aikin
Topics: Excellence
The hardest trial of the heart is, whether it can bear a rival’s failure without triumph.
—John Aikin
Topics: Heart, Trials
The sunshine of life is made up of very little beams that are bright all the time. To give up something, when giving up will prevent unhappiness; to yield, when persisting will chafe and fret others; to go a little around rather than come against another; to take an ill look or a cross word quietly, rather than resent or return it,—these are the ways in which clouds and storms are kept off, and a pleasant and steady sunshine secured.
—John Aikin
Topics: Happiness
He whose first emotion, on the view of an excellent work, is to undervalue or depreciate it, will never have one of his own to show.
—John Aikin
Topics: Critics
To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list.
—John Aikin
Topics: Books
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Edward Lear English Humorist, Illustrator
- A. E. Housman English Scholar, Poet
- Leigh Hunt British Author
- John Keats English Poet
- Matthew Arnold English Poet, Critic
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti British Poet, Artist
- David Whyte Anglo-Irish Poet
- Al Alvarez English Critic, Poet, Novelist
- Thomas Robert Malthus English Political Economist
- Isaac D’Israeli English Writer, Scholar
Leave a Reply