Tag Archives: A. E. Housman

Here dead lie we because we did not choose to live and shame the land from which we sprung. Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose; but young men think it is, and we were young. A. E. Housman

Who made the world I cannot tell; 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, I never soiled with such a deed. A. E. Housman

The laws of God, the laws of man he may keep that will and can; not I: let God and man decree laws for themselves and not for me. A. E. Housman

If a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act. A. E. Housman

Great literature should do some good to the reader: must quicken his perception though dull, and sharpen his discrimination though blunt, and mellow the rawness of his personal opinions. A. E. Housman

The average man, if he meddles with criticism at all, is a conservative critic. A. E. Housman

Nature, not content with denying him the ability to think, has endowed him with the ability to write. A. E. Housman

Experience has taught me, when I am shaving of a morning, to keep watch over my thoughts, because, if a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act. A. E. Housman

Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out… Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure. A. E. Housman

Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink for fellows whom it hurts to think. A. E. Housman