Quote#Art
If conversation be an art, like painting, sculpture, and literature,…
Quote byHenry Theodore Tuckerman · 1813–1871
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Optimist (1850), "Conversation", p. 77.
English (original)
If conversation be an art, like painting, sculpture, and literature, it owes its most power charm to nature; and the least shade of formality or artifice destroys the effect of the best collection of words.
— Henry Theodore Tuckerman
More from Henry Theodore Tuckerman
Credulity is perhaps a weakness almost inseparable from eminently truthful characters.
There is a policy in manner. I have heard one, not inexperienced in the pursuit of fame, give it his earnest support, as being the surest passport to absolute and brilliant success.
Give me the boon of Love! I ask no more for Fame; Far better one unpurchased heart Than Glory's proudest name. Why wake a fever in the blood, Or damp the spirit now,
To a nice ear, the quality of a voice is singularly affecting. Its depth seems to be allied to feeling; at least, the contralto notes alone give an adequate sense of pathos. They are born near the heart.
Tact is an essential principle of conversation; hence, the eastern metaphor which likens a word spoken in season, to "apples of gold in pictures of silver." The time and the society must regulate the subject.
There is more or less of pathos in all true beauty. The delight it awakens has an undefinable and, as it were, luxurious sadness, which is perhaps one element of its might. It may be that this feeling springs from a sense of unattained …