A textual critic engaged upon his business is not at all like Newton investigating the motions of the planets: he is much more like a dog hunting for fleas. If a dog hunted for fleas on mathematical principles, basing his researches on statistics of area and population, he would never catch a flea except by accident.


"The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism", a lecture delivered on August 4, 1921

A. E. Housman Quotes

A textual critic engaged upon his business is not at all like Newton investigating the motions of the planets: he is much more like a dog hunting for ...

A textual critic engaged upon his business is not at all like Newton investigating the motions of the planets: he is much more like a dog hunting for ...

A textual critic engaged upon his business is not at all like Newton investigating the motions of the planets: he is much more like a dog hunting for ...

A textual critic engaged upon his business is not at all like Newton investigating the motions of the planets: he is much more like a dog hunting for ...