I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not …

A. E. Housman
64 citations
I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history.
Philosophy
16

More Author Quotes

Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, and we were young. ✨ More Poems (1936) no. 36
And how am I to face the odds Of man's bedevilment and God's? I, a stranger and afraid In a world I never made. ✨ 'Last Poems' (1922) no. 12
Earth and high heaven are fixed of old and founded strong. ✨ A. E. Housman, Be Still, My Soul, Be Still; The Arms You Bear Are Brittle
When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, `Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free.' But I was one-and-twenty No use t … ▶
How clear, how lovely bright, How beautiful to sight Those beams of morning play; How heaven laughs out with glee Where, like a bird set free, Up from the eastern sea Soars the delightful day. To-day … ▶

I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history.

More Author Quotes

Most Cited Authors

The Best Quotes

Most Liked Authors

Curated Author Quotes