A. E. Housman Quotes
To be a textual critic requires aptitude for thinking and willingness to think; and though it also requires other things, those things are supplements and cannot be substitutes. Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head.
Housman, A. E. "The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism." Proceedings of the Classical Association, vol. 18, John Murray, 1922, p. 68.
He was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for figuring out that the earth revolved around the sun which was contrary to church teaching at the time.
Political ideologues are particularly vulnerable as doctrine and party positions do not require understanding of the reasons for validity.
While all recognize the importance of that critical intellectual skill, few have developed the skill and ability and all of us make errors frequently. Some, however, are and have been better than others.
Alfred Edward Housman, usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet. His cycle of poems, A Shropshire Lad wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. Their simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers both before and after the First World War. Through their song-settings, the poems became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself.
