The senses of speech, of the ears, and of the eyes, are the three most powerful among these organs which put the soul in contact with the exterior world; so the art of eloquence, or of poetry, is the first of these arts—that which exerts the most influence on us or on other men, the art of modifying the soul itself by speech that is heard, or the art of modifying the soul of other men by speech that is spoken.

Cours familier de littérature: un entretien par mois (Chez l'auteur, 1858)