Thomas de Quincey was an English author and intellectual, best known for his book Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .
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(19 quotes found)
“There is first the literature of KNOWLEDGE, and secondly, the literature of POWER. The function of the first is -- to teach; the function of the second is -- to move.”
Thomas De Quincey
“Books, we are told, propose to instruct" or to amuse." Indeed! . . . The true antithesis to knowledge, in this case, is not pleasure," but power."”
“Nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium: its pleasures even are of a grave and solemn complexion.”
“In many walks of life, a conscience is a more expensive encumbrance than a wife or a carriage.”
“Even imperfection itself may have its ideal or perfect state”
“Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!”
“Call for the grandest of all earthly spectacles, what is that? It is the sun going to his rest.”
“The public is a bad guesser.”
“Thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle, and mighty opium!”