Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.

G.k. Chesterton
About This Quote

It is difficult to define the difference between chess players and poets, but in this quote, Eliot makes a distinction that is very interesting. He says that while chess players may be considered mad, poets are not. He also mentions that mathematicians and cashiers often end up going mad because they can’t provide for themselves and their families. The only people who don’t end up like these people are creative artists like writers and painters.

Source: Orthodoxy

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