It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous.
"The Case for the Ephemeral"
All Things Considered (1908)
Kontext: I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this book. It is a collection of crude and shapeless papers upon current or rather flying subjects; and they must be published pretty much as they stand. They were written, as a rule, at the last moment; they were handed in the moment before it was too late, and I do not think that our commonwealth would have been shaken to its foundations if they had been handed in the moment after. They must go out now, with all their imperfections on their head, or rather on mine; for their vices are too vital to be improved with a blue pencil, or with anything I can think of, except dynamite.
Their chief vice is that so many of them are very serious; because I had no time to make them flippant. It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous.
„Nič nie je také ťažké, ako návrat k zdravému rozumu.“
„V podstate je každé nešťastie len také ťažké, ako si ho berieme.“
„Nič nie je také ťažké, aby to ľudský duch neprekonal.“
„Nič na svete nie je také ťažké, ak si to rozdelíte na malé práce.“
„Kritika je ľahká, umenie ťažké.“
Potvrdené výroky
Zdroj: [KOTRMANOVÁ, Milada.: Perly ducha. Ostrava: Knižní expres, 1996 ISBN 80-902272-1-X]
„Každý človek má takú hodnotu, akú majú veci, ktoré berie vážne.“
„K nikomu nie je také ťažké byť pokorným ako k niekomu, kto nás nenávidí.“
Prisudzované výroky
„Pre básnika je práve také ťažké hovoriť o poézii ako rastline o záhradníctve.“
