Omniana/Volume 1/Goodness of Heart indispensible to a man of genius

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

126. Goodness of Heart indispensable to a Man of Genius.

"If men will impartially and not asquint look toward the offices and function of a poet, they will easily conclude to themselves the impossibility of any man's being a great poet without being first a good man."

Ben Jonson's Dedication to Volpone.

Ben Jonson has borrowed this just and noble sentiment from Strabo, lib. i. Ουκ οιον αγαθον γενεσθαι ποιητην, μη προτερον γενηθεντα ανδρα αγαθον.