The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action, or person not our own.... The great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting upon the cause.


A Defense of Poetry (1821)

Percy Bysshe Shelley Quotes

The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought,...

The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought,...

The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought,...

The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought,...