I. A. Richards Quotes

6 Sourced Quotes

It [poetry] is capable of saving us; it is a perfectly possible means of overcoming chaos.

I. A. Richards

We believe a scientist because he can substantiate his remarks, not because he is eloquent and forcible in his enunciation. In fact, we distrust him when he seems to be influencing us by his manner.

I. A. Richards

For science, which is simply our most elaborate way of pointing to things systematically, tells us and can tell us nothing about the nature of things in any ultimate sense. It can never answer any question of the form: What is so and so? It can only tell us how so and so behaves. And it does not attempt to do more than this.

I. A. Richards

Thought is metaphoric, and proceeds by comparison, and the metaphors of language derive therefrom.

I. A. Richards

In the simplest formulation, when we use a metaphor we have two thoughts of different things active together and supported by a single word, or phrase, whose meaning is a resultant of their interaction.

I. A. Richards

We want to do something and a definition is a means of doing it. If we want certain results then we must use certain meanings or definitions. But no definition has any authority apart from a purpose, or to bar us from other purposes.

I. A. Richards

I. A. Richards

I. A. Richards

Born: February 26, 1893

Died: September 7, 1979 (aged 86)

Bio: Ivor Armstrong Richards, known as I. A. Richards, was an English educator, literary critic, and rhetorician whose work contributed to the foundations of the New Criticism.

Known for:

Principles of literary criticism (1924)
The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936)
Coleridge on imagination (1934)
Interpretation in teaching (1938)

I. A. Richards on Wikipedia

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