“ Clever people are always bores and always must be. ”
Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912). copy citation
| Author | Samuel Butler |
|---|---|
| Source | The Note-Books of Samuel Butler |
| Topic | |
| Date | 1912 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6173/6173-h/6173-h.htm |
Context
“it by adding the two syllables “and clear” to make the line complete.
In writing this sonnet Butler was no doubt thinking of a note he made in 1891:
“It is often said that there is no bore like a clever bore. Clever people are always bores and always must be. That is, perhaps, why Shakespeare had to leave London—people could not stand him any longer.”
xiv. The Life after Death
Butler began to write sonnets in 1898 when he was studying those of Shakespeare on which he published a book in the following year.”
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