Vital

Famous quotes containing the word vital:

    In view of this half-sight of science, we accept the sentence of Plato, that, “poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.”
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Analysis as an instrument of enlightenment and civilization is good, in so far as it shatters absurd convictions, acts as a solvent upon natural prejudices, and undermines authority; good, in other words, in that it sets free, refines, humanizes, makes slaves ripe for freedom. But it is bad, very bad, in so far as it stands in the way of action, cannot shape the vital forces, maims life at its roots. Analysis can be a very unappetizing affair, as much so as death.
    Thomas Mann (1875–1955)

    With all the surgical skill and the vital rays lavished on him he should talk like a—like a congressman at a filibuster.
    —Kenneth Langtry. Herbert L. Strock. Prof. Frankenstein (Whit Bissell)