"Poetry should surprise by a fine excess, and not by singularity; it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance."

Art

Create & Download Quote Graphic

Customize Image

1. Canvas Aspect Ratio

2. Palette Theme

Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Art as articulated by John Keats. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Art provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

Explore all Art quotes → Browse all wisdom by John Keats →

About John Keats

John Keats was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. They were indifferently received in his lifetime, but his fame grew rapidly after his death. By the end of the century, he was placed in the canon of English literature, strongly influencing many writers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1888 described his "Ode to a Nightingale" as "one of the final masterpieces".

View all quotes by John Keats →
Editorial Integrity: Curated and fact-checked under our Editorial Standards to eliminate misattributions and preserve historical authenticity.
Learn about our methodology →

More by John Keats

"You are always new, the last of your kisses was ever the sweetest."

— John Keats
Read more →

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter."

— John Keats
Read more →

"You speak of Lord Byron and me; there is this great difference between us. He describes what he sees I describe what I imagine. Mine is the hardest task."

— John Keats
Read more →

"Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance."

— John Keats
Read more →

More about Art

"I influenced the BG style by not being able to draw perspective. The BG artists developed cool graphic painting styles to make my bad backgrounds look like they were that way on purpose."

— John Kricfalusi
Read more →

"There's no being wrong in seeing something in art, only being disagreed with."

— Jonathan Safran Foer
Read more →

"The best thing I ever learned from my dad was he knew he wasn't the best of singers, but he always knew he was a great entertainer, and I always thought that was a good concept to bring along, that ultimately acting is an entertainment art and you have to be aware of the fact that you want people to be excited to be watching you."

— Dean Norris
Read more →

"Women are treated as unjustly in poetry as in life. The feminine ones are not idealistic, and the idealistic not feminine."

— Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
Read more →
Browse all Art quotes →