Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Matthew Arnold observes that the Celtic people possess a remarkable amount of style.
In plain terms
The Celts are naturally very stylish.
What can you take from it?
Style can be a natural trait of a culture.

Where it applies

  • cultural study
  • art history

Putting it to work

  • study cultural traits
  • appreciate diversity

Questions to consider

  • What makes a culture stylistically distinct?

Another view

Generalizing a whole group's traits can overlook individual differences.

More from Matthew Arnold

  1. Style...is a peculiar recasting and heightening, under a certain condition of spiritual excitement, of what a man has to say, in such a manner as to add dignit…

    Permalink to quote #35
  2. The power of the Latin classic is in character, that of the Greek is in beauty. Now character is capable of being taught, learnt, and assimilated: beauty hardl…

    Permalink to quote #37
  3. Cruel, but composed and bland, Dumb, inscrutable and grand, So Tiberius might have sat, Had Tiberius been a cat.

    Permalink to quote #34

Related quotes

  1. In life, he suffered from a sense of unreality, as do many Englishmen.

    Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis Borges quote #54
  2. Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.

    Angela CarterAngela Carter quote #1
  3. I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious a…

    Antonin DvorakAntonin Dvorak quote #1