Personal Experience Is The Basis Of All

The Prosperity Of A Book Lies In The Minds Of Readers. Public Knowledge And Public Taste Fluctuate; And There Come Times When Works Which Were Once Capable Of Instructing And Delighting Thousands Lose Their Power, And Works, Before Neglected, Emerge Into Renown.

Science Is The Systematic Classification Of Experience.

If A Work Of Art Is Placed Before Me, I Believe I Can Enjoy It; But I Do Not Overlook The Fact, That Art Is One Thing, Another Thing Amusement; And That People Do Like Amusements, And Will Run After It.

Science As We Now Understand The Word Is Of Later Birth. If Its Germinal Origin May Be Traced To The Early Period When Observation, Induction, And Deduction Were First Employed, Its Birth Must Be Referred To That Comparatively Recent Period When The Mind, Rejecting The Primitive Tendency To Seek In Supernatural Agencies For An Explanation Of All External Phenomena, Endeavoured, By A Systematic Investigation Of The Phenomena Themselves To Discover Their Invariable Order And Connection.

Those Works Alone Can Have Enduring Success Which Successfully Appeal To What Is Permanent In Human Nature -- Which, While Suiting The Taste Of The Day, Contain Truths And Beauty Deeper Than The Opinions And Tastes Of The Day.