Matthew Arnold
Preserved but no longer current.
"Culture," he said, "is the passion for sweetness and light, and (what is more) the passion for making them prevail" {Preface to Literature and Dogma). The phrase was used by Swift (Battle of the Books, 1697) in an imaginary fable by ^Esop as to the merits of the bee (the ancients) and the spider (the moderns).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Matthew Arnold” mean?
"Culture," he said, "is the passion for sweetness and light, and (what is more) the passion for making them prevail" {Preface to Literature and Dogma). The phrase was used by Swift (Battle of the Books, 1697) in an imaginary fable by ^Esop as to the merits of the bee (the ancients) and the spider (the moderns).
Is “Matthew Arnold” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.