Quotation by James Joyce

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from a private collection A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man "A Suave Philosophy" Daily Express (Dublin, Feb. 6, 1903)Buck Mulligan, in Ulysses (1922)Cranly, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

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talent (11) poetry (6) poets (6) creativity (5) art (4) artists (4) freedom (2) wit (2) madness (2) wisdom (2)

Saying that a great genius is mad, while at the same time recognizing his artistic worth, is like saying that he had rheumatism or suffered from diabetes. Madness, in fact, is a medical term that can claim no more notice from the objective critic than he grants the charge of heresy raised by the theologian, or the charge of immorality raised by the police.

James Joyce

James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish author. Lecture, March 1912, Università Popolare Triestina. "William Blake," sct. 43, Critical Writings, eds. Ellsworth Mason and Richard Ellmann (1959).

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