Letitia Elizabeth Landon on Intelligence
1802–1838 England
← All quotes by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
8 quotes
It is amazing how oppressive is the cleverness of some people, as if it were quite a duty in you to be clever too—
Romance and Reality (1831)
Glory of earth, and light from heaven,
Young Genius ! but for thee,
And the wild wonders to thee given,
How base our earth would be !
Imagination's truth is from its power:
Man's genius can create when nature's felt;
He copies when he deems that he invents.
That charm of genius, triumph of high art;
Poetry's divination, which reveals
All nature's secrets, such as influence
The heart of man.
I know not which is the most fatal gift,
Genius or Love, for both alike are ruled
By stars of bright aspect and evil influence.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
What a falsehood it is to say that genius and industry are incompatible ! Does one work of genius exist that has not also been a work of labour ?
Heath's book of Beauty, 1833 (1832)
The life of the most successful writer has rarely been other than of toil and privation; and here I cannot but notice a singularly absurd "popular fancy," that genius and industry are incompatible. The one is inherent in the other. A mind so constituted has a restlessness in its powers, which forces them into activity.
My power was but a woman's power;
Yet, in that great and glorious dower
Which Genius gives, I had my part:
I poured my full and burning heart
The Improvisatrice (1824)