George Henry Lewes Quote

Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes. But those who have had ample opportunities of intimately knowing the growth of works in the minds of artists, will bear me out in saying that a vivid memory supplies the elements from a thousand different sources, most of which are quite beyond the power of localisation, the experience of yesterday being strangely intermingled with the dim suggestions of early years, the tones heard in childhood sounding through the diapason of sorrowing maturity; and all these kaleidoscopic fragments are recomposed into images that seem to have a corresponding reality of their own.


The Principles of Success in Literature (1865)


Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes. But those who have had ample opportunities of intimately knowing the growth of works...

Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes. But those who have had ample opportunities of intimately knowing the growth of works...

Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes. But those who have had ample opportunities of intimately knowing the growth of works...

Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes. But those who have had ample opportunities of intimately knowing the growth of works...