"Ordinary minds seldom rise above the dull uniform tenor of common sentiments, like those animals that are condemned to creep on the ground all the days of their life; but the most lawless excursions of an original Genius, like the flight of an eagle, are towering, though devious; its path, as the course of a comet, is blazing, though irregular; and its errors and excellencies are equally inimitable."
An Essay on Original Genius
2 entries in ESTC (1767).<br>
<br>
Text from William Duff, <u>An Essay on Original Genius; and its Various Modes of Exertion in Philosophy and the Fine Arts, Particularly in Poetry</u> (London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, 1767). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T58836a">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;