Author: William Empson

Cited by

• Paul Seabright (1)
  • IN: The War of the Sexes (2012) Non-Fiction, Psychology, British
    EPIGRAPH: No man is sure he does not need to climb. / It is not human to feel safely placed. / "A girl can't go on laughing all the time."
    FROM: "Reflection from Anita Loos", (1940), Poem, UK
• Grace McCleen (1)
  • IN: The Professor of Poetry (2013) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: It has been deduced from the belief in Pure Sound that the resultant meaning of the words need not be known, that it is enough to know the meaning of the words in isolation and enough of their syntax to read them aloud rightly. In a degree this is often true, but it is best to regard this state of limited knowledge as a complicated state of indecision which involves much estimating of probabilites, and is less ignorance than an ordered suspension of judgement... a musical chord is a direct sensation, but not therefore unanalyzable into its separate notes even at the moment of sensing. It can be either felt or thought; the two things are similar but different; and it requires practice to do both at once.
    FROM: Seven Types of Ambiquity, (1939), Book, UK
• D. J. Taylor (1)
  • IN: The Windsor Faction (2013) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: The object of life, after all, is not to understand things, but to maintain one's defences and equilibrium and live as well as one can; it is not only maiden aunts who are placed like this.
    FROM: Seven Types of Ambiguity, (1930), NULL, UK