Robert Wilson Lynd

Robert Wilson Lynd (1879 - 1949) was a British writer, an urbane literary essayist and strong Irish nationalist. He was born and educated in Belfast, and settled in Hampstead in London, as a contributor to many publications.

Sourced

• The art of writing history is the art of emphasizing the significant facts at the expense of the insignificant. And it is the same in every field of knowledge. Knowledge is power only if a man knows what facts not to bother about.
  • Robert Lynd (1926) The orange tree: a volume of essays. p.60. The last sentence "Knowledge is power only if a man knows what facts not to bother about." was cited in some sources in the 1960s, such as August Kerber (1968) Quotable quotes on education. p.190, and in multiple other sources ever since.

• Most of us can remember a time when a birthday — especially if it was one's own — brightened the world as if a second sun had risen
  • Robert Lynd (1969). The Peal of Bells. p.26

• There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas.
  • On Christmas, The Book of This and That (1915)

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• The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.

• There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.

• I am a confirmed believer in blessings in disguise. I prefer them undisguised when I myself happen to be the person blessed; in fact, I can scarcely recognize a blessing in disguise except when it is bestowed upon someone else.