James Russell Lowell

"Truth, after all, wears a different face to everybody, and it would be too tedious to wait till all were agreed. She is said to lie at the bottom of a well, for the very reason, perhaps, that whoever looks down in search of her sees his own image at the bottom, and is persuaded not only that he has seen the goddess, but that she is far better looking than he had imagined."

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Source: James Russell Lowell (1886). “Democracy, and Other Addresses”

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James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell

Poet, Essayist

James Russell Lowell was an American poet and essayist known for his advocacy of social reform and his influential work, 'The Biglow Papers.'

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James Russell Lowell Poet, Essayist

"What visionary tints the year puts on, When falling leaves falter through motionless air Or numbly cling and shiver to be gone! How shimmer the low flats and pastures bare, As with her nectar Hebe Autumn fills The bowl between me and those distant hills, And smiles and shakes abroad her misty, tremulous hair!"

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