...frivolity is, in the secretive sense, far
more sacred than seriousness; it is more fragile, more personal, more
occult. Any one can see St. Paul's Cathedral, but there may be only two
people in the world who can see a particular joke...it is not possible, properly speaking, to laugh irreverently at time,
death and judgment—for they laugh best who laugh last; but it is
possible to laugh very irreverently at a joke.
-October 20, 1900, The Speaker
...religion is a secret passion audaciously made public; it is not strange
if its hymns have something of the splendid folly of love-letters...
-October 27, 1900, The Speaker
...the lies of fiction convey truth and the lies of history convey nothing. But there is obviously a distinction between romances in this matter:
all good romances convey truth, but not always about the period they
describe.
-December 8, 1900, The Speaker
A poem may be written about everything, but not about things in general.
To a poet who sings of the universe, the universe must be for the
moment one thing—as much one thing as a daisy or a butterfly.
-January 5, 1901, The Speaker
The truth is that we should have the greatest respect for Mr. Wynne's
work, with all its crudities, if it bore the impress even of the
vulgarest fanaticism. If he had one thing which could be called an
opinion we could forgive him everything. But he seems to dawdle round
all sides of a question, like a drunkard going continually round a house
because he cannot find the door.
-January 5, 1901, The Speaker
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