***What I mean by a perfect man is one who develops under
perfect conditions; one who is not wounded, or worried, or maimed, or in
danger. Most personalities have been obliged to be rebels. Half
their strength has been wasted in friction. Byron's personality, for
instance, was terribly wasted in its battle with the stupidity, and hypocrisy,
and Philistinism of the English. Such battles do not always intensify
strength: they often exaggerate weakness. Byron was never able to give us
what he might have given us. Shelley escaped better. Like Byron, he
got out of England as soon as possible. But he was not so well known.