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Quote#Art

Foolish critics often betray their ignorance by saying that a painter…

Quote byGeorge Henry Lewes · 1817–1878

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Principles of Success in Literature (1865).

English (original)

Foolish critics often betray their ignorance by saying that a painter or a writer "only copies what he has seen, or puts down what he has known." They forget that no man imagines what he has not seen or known, and that it is in the selection of the characteristic details that the artistic power is manifested.

— George Henry Lewes

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