"Genius is not a single power, but a combination of great powers. It reasons, but it is not reasoning; it judges, but it is not judgment; it imagines, but it is not imagination; it feels deeply and fiercely, but it is not passion. It is neither, because it is all. It is another name for the perfection of human nature, for Genius is not a fact but an ideal. It is nothing less than the possession of all the powers and impulses of humanity, in their greatest possible strength and most harmonious combination; and the genius of any particular man is great in proportion as he approaches this ideal of universal genius."
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Essayists from the United StatesLiterary criticsJournalists from the United StatesPeople from Massachusetts
Original Language: English
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Lecture V: Genius, pp. 158β159.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edwin_Percy_Whipple
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Edwin Percy Whipple
Edwin Percy Whipple (March 8, 1819 β June 16, 1886) was a literary critic and essayist from Massachusetts.
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