Poetics
Aristotle
Top 10 Best Quotes
“With respect to the requirement of art, the probable impossible is always preferable to the improbable possible.”
“A beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it. A middle is that which follows something as some other thing follows it. A well constructed plot, therefore, must neither begin nor end at haphazard, but conform to these principles.”
“Accordingly, the poet should prefer probable impossibilities to improbable possibilities.”
“the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.”
“A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility. The story should never be made up of improbable incidents; there should be nothing of the sort in it.”
“The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy; Character holds the second place.”
“For the essence of a riddle is to express true facts under impossible combinations.”
“All human happiness or misery takes the form of action; the end for which we live is a certain kind of action.”
“poetry utters universal truths, history particular statements”
“The poet should even act his story with the very gestures of his personages. Given the same natural qualifications, he who feels the emotions to be described will be the most convincing; distress and anger, for instance, are portrayed most truthfully by one who is feeling them at the moment. Hence it is that poetry demands a man with a special gift for it, or else one with a touch of madness in him; the former can easily assume the required mood, and the latter may be actually beside himself with emotion.”
Except where otherwise noted, all rights reserved to the author(s) of this book (mentioned above). The content of this page serves solely as promotional material for the aforementioned book. If you enjoyed these quotes, you can support the author(s) by acquiring the full book from Amazon.
Book Keywords:
possibilities, beginnings, art, endings, middles, plotting, possibility, plot, action, life, stories, probability, probabilities, happiness
