Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.

The line warns that excessive deference to public taste, critical fashion, or social approval can ruin a writer’s work—and even the writer. “Wreckage” suggests not just failed books but damaged lives and careers: talent diverted into safe conformity, voices silenced by anxiety, and experiments abandoned for fear of ridicule. Read this way, the quote champions artistic independence and inner authority, implying that literature advances when writers risk displeasing others. It also gestures toward the pressures surrounding authorship—reviews, reputations, and social expectations—that can distort creative judgment and make writers betray their own perceptions.