“Whatever else he may do, a critic reveals and criticises himself.”

— Alfred Austin, In Veronica's Garden, 1895

About Alfred Austin

1835 – 1913

English poet, Poet Laureate from 1896 to 1913.

“Knowledge is to the imagination what fuel is to flame.”

“Hospitality should be accidental, spontaneous, and impulsive, not pre-arranged and calculated.”

“Let your house / Be spacious more than splendid, and be books / And busts your most conspicuous furniture.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”