American - Novelist | August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937
One superlatively important effect of wide reading is the enlargement of vocabulary which always accompanies it.
H. P. Lovecraft
ReadingImportantAlwaysVocabulary
There be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; I dare not say, myself, but I will tell of The Street.
MyselfDareSayStreetWillPlaces
I have concluded that Literature is no proper pursuit for a gentleman and that Writing ought never to be consider'd but as an elegant Accomplishment to be indulg'd in with infrequency and Discrimination.
WritingGentlemanAccomplishment
All rationalism tends to minimalise the value and the importance of life and to decrease the sum total of human happiness.
LifeHappinessValueHumanSum
Even when the characters are supposed to be accustomed to the wonder, I try to weave an air of awe and impressiveness corresponding to what the reader should feel. A casual style ruins any serious fantasy.
StyleFeelWonderSeriousTryAir
Atmosphere, not action, is the great desideratum of weird fiction. Indeed, all that a wonder story can ever be is a vivid picture of a certain type of human mood.
GreatActionStoryWeirdPicture
The 'punch' of a truly weird tale is simply some violation or transcending of fixed cosmic law - an imaginative escape from palling reality - hence, phenomena rather than persons are the logical 'heroes.'
LawRealityWeirdEscapeHeroes
Very few minds are strictly normal, and all religious fanatics are marked with abnormalities of various sorts.
MindsNormalReligiousFewVery
Truth is of no practical value to mankind save as it affects terrestrial phenomena, hence the discoveries of science should be concealed or glossed over wherever they conflict with orthodoxy.
TruthScienceValueConflictOver
The earliest English attempts at rhyming probably included words whose agreement is so slight that it deserves the name of mere 'assonance' rather than that of actual rhyme.
WordsNameAgreementEnglishWhose
We should perceive that man's period of historical existence, a period so short that his physical constitution has not been altered in the slightest degree, is insufficient to allow of any considerable mental change.
ChangeManConstitutionShortDegree
Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and training, it can be elevated tremendously, yet there is always a limit.
RespectManTrainingThoughtLimit
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