“Comedy has had no history, because it was not at first treated seriously.”

“History describes what has happened, poetry what might. Hence poetry is something more philosophic and serious than history; for poetry speaks of what is universal, history of what is particular.”

“Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in actual life.”

“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.”

“The poet's function is to describe, not the thing that has happened, but a kind of thing that might happen, i.e., what is possible as being probable or necessary...Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are of the nature rather of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.”

“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.”

“Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.”