“ The literature of a people must spring from the sense of its nationality; and nationality is impossible without self-respect, and self-respect is impossible without liberty. ”
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands (1854). copy citation
| Author | Harriet Beecher Stowe |
|---|---|
| Source | Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands |
| Topic | literature liberty |
| Date | 1854 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13945/13945-h/13945-h.htm |
Context
“Had not these men held up the heart of Scotland, and kept alive the fire of liberty on her altars, the very literature which has been used to defame them could not have had its existence. The very literary celebrity of Scotland has grown out of their grave; for a vigorous and original literature is impossible, except to a strong, free, self-respecting people. The literature of a people must spring from the sense of its nationality; and nationality is impossible without self-respect, and self-respect is impossible without liberty.
It is one of the trials of our mortal state, one of the disciplines of our virtue, that the world's benefactors and reformers are so often without form or comeliness. The very force necessary to sustain the conflict makes them appear unlovely;”
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