Edgar Allan Poe

I have made up my mind to get rid of the magazine, and to give up the literary life, at least for the present.

The ninety and nine are with dreams, each one, and the hundredth man is awake.

Man's chief knowledge is that he knows nothing.

I would define, in brief, the Poetry of Words as The Rhythmical Creation of Beauty.

The best literary work is that which is most universally appreciated.

Coquetry, like a regular coquette, makes a fool of him who has to do with it.

The most original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.

The want of money is an inconvenience, a mortification, a source of vexation, but not a crime.

I have been to hell and back, and let me tell you, it was not a pleasant journey.

The human heart is a fathomless abyss.

From childhood's hour I have not been as others were—I have not seen as others saw—I could not bring my passions from a common spring.

The true genius is that which is most original.

I am a man of the world, and I have seen much of it.

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.

There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.

Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.

Poetry is the rhythmical creation of Beauty in words.

I was never really insane except upon occasions.

The soul that has no fixed purpose in life is a failure.

From childhood's hour I have not been. As others were—I have not seen. As others saw—I could not bring. My passions from a common spring.