106 Quotes by Matthew Pearl

...and since the beginning of human history the soldier and the poet had shared great (or terrible) imaginations that remade their surroundings.

Books do pretend ...but squeezed in between is even more that is true—without what you may call the lies, the pages would be too light for the truth, you see?

No poet is ever really young... Their delicate ears always hear the far-off whisper of death, which coarser souls must travel towards for years before their duller senses touch....

'Pity without rigor would be cowardly egotism, mere sentimentality.'

To be brilliant is not a matter of being right more often than the next fellow; yes, that may be part of the pedestrian definition. It is in large part a matter of holding firm to convictions as long as possible, but not a moment longer.

The boundary between being an exile and being mad seemed to be a fine one... losing one’s rightful place in the world could mean losing one’s mind.

Longfellow smiled. "A great part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, my dear Lowell, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.

He worshipped at the temple of her intellect and I believe it was a comfort to him to know that she left our world with it still shining.

exaggeration is the octopus of the English language