A. C. Benson
Full Name: Arthur Christopher Benson
Birthdate: April 24, 1862
Birthplace: England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: June 17, 1925
Occupation: Author, Essayist, and Poet
Profile: Prolific essayist of the Edwardian period. Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Benson
Number of Quotes: 35
A man must be merciful to his stammering virtues.
The Altar Fire
A well begun is half ended.
All the best stories are but one story in reality - the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.
As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow.
But the worst of my faults is that I am horribly lazy; and yet I am always busy, because I am so slow, and have to do everything twice over.
Diary
Do not be so impatient to set the world right.
From a College Window
Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.
Frequently attributed, though exact origin debated; aligns with themes in The Silent Isle and diaries.
Happiness is a wine of the rarest vintage, and seems insipid to a vulgar taste.
The Thread of Gold
He that would write heroic poems should make his whole life a heroic poem.
The Upton Letters
How can one learn to know oneself? Never by contemplation, only through action.
The Altar Fire
I am sure it is a mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains.
I am sure it is one's duty as a teacher to try to show boys that no opinions, no tastes, no emotions are
worth much unless they are one's own. I suffered acutely as a boy from the lack of being shown this.
I do not at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.
I have the greatest dislike to being in the wrong; it is a perpetual feast to me to be found fault with when I am in the right.
The Upton Letters
I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
It is the greatest mistake in the world to imagine that one is ever done with anything. The most triumphant moment is only the beginning of a new effort.
The Thread of Gold
Knowing what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.
Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.
Frequently attributed to Benson; strongly echoes his sentiment, though phrasing variations exist. Represents core themes.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
This quote is often misattributed to Søren Kierkegaard. Some sources include it under Benson.
Man, an animal that makes bargains.
Man, an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.
One's mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do.
The House of Quiet
People seldom refuse help, if one offers it in the right way.
The delicate balance of modesty is to be seen and not heard... but missing it by much, modesty disappears and one is left with the tediousness of the meek.
At Large
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.
Ruskin: A Study in Personality
The things that one most desires are not the things that one most needs.
The Thread of Gold
The worst sorrows in life are not in its losses and misfortunes, but its fears.
There is no merit where there is no trial; and till experience stamps the mark of strength, cowards may pass for heroes, and faith for falsehood.
The Thread of Gold
To be happy is not the purpose of our being, but to deserve happiness.
The Altar Fire
Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.
Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or an ideal is the amount one is prepared to lose for it.
The Leaves of the Tree
We are not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our heart.
The Schoolmaster
What is the secret of serenity? What gives that deep, untroubled look to those who have it? It is not that they have
never known sorrow, but that they have learned how to cure its aftermath by a wise and careful treatment of themselves.
The Thread of Gold
When you get to my age life seems little more than one long march to and from the lavatory.
You can never get all the truth from any one human being, because each sees it from a different angle.
The Thread of Gold
Last on Earth
