Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd, And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.
All truth is precious, if not all divine; and what dilates the powers must needs refine.
My soul is sick with every day's report of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.
But, oh, Thou bounteous Giver of all good, Thou art, of all Thy gifts, Thyself thy crown!
When from soft love proceeds the deep distress, ah! why forbid the willing tears to flow?
Perhaps thou gav'st me, though unseen, a kiss; Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss.
Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, Rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze.
But what is truth? 'Twas Pilate's question put To Truth itself, that deign'd him no reply.
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,- A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew.
Sends Nature forth the daughter of the skies... To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.
Men deal with life as children with their play, Who first misuse, then cast their toys away.
The rich are too indolent, the poor too weak, to bear the insupportable fatigue of thinking.
The art of poetry is to touch the passions, and its duty to lead them on the side of virtue.
Greece, sound, thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name, But England's Milton equals both in fame.
And diff'ring judgments serve but to declare that truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.
Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor; And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
Some write a narrative of wars and feats, Of heroes little known, and call the rant A history.
Lived in his saddle, loved the chase, the course, And always, ere he mounted, kiss'd his horse.
There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.
Blest be the art that can immortalize,--the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim to quench it.
It is a general rule of Judgment, that a mischief should rather be admitted than an inconvenience.
Strange as it may seem, the most ludicrous lines I ever wrote have been written in the saddest mood.
Mountains interposed Make enemies of nations, who had else Like kindred drops been mingled into one.
Transforms old print To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.
Me howling blasts drive devious, tempest-tossed, / Sails ripped, seams opening wide, and compass lost.
When all within is peace How nature seems to smile Delights that never cease The live-long day beguile
Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, Exhilirate the spirit, and restore The tone of languid nature.
Necessity invented stools, Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, And luxury the accomplish'd Sofa last.
If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one.
Visits are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not that, would do nothing.
Religion Caesar never knew Thy posterity shall sway, Where his eagles never flew, None as invincible as they.
'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume; And we are weeds without it.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.
I seem forsaken and alone, / I hear the lion roar; / And every door is shut but one, / And that is Mercy's door.
A glory gilds the sacred page, Majestic like the sun, It gives a light to every age, It gives, but borrows none.
Then liberty, like day, Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from Heaven Fires all the faculties with glorious joy.
A heretic, my dear sir, is a fellow who disagrees with you regarding something neither of you knows anything about.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
To see the Law by Christ fulfilled, And hear His pardoning voice Changes a slave into a child, And duty into choice.
Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry-- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.
No wisdom that she may gain by experience and reflection hereafter, will compensate the loss of her present hilarity.
How various his employments whom the world Calls idle; and who justly in return Esteems that busy world an idler too!
We sacrifice to dress till household joys and comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar dry, and keeps our larder lean.
If a great man struggling with misfortunes is a noble object, a little man that despises them is no contemptible one.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
They best can judge a poet's worth, Who oft themselves have known The pangs of a poetic birth By labours of their own.
Great contest follows, and much learned dust Involves the combatants; each claiming truth, And truth disclaiming both.
There is mercy in every place. And mercy, encouraging thought gives even affliction a grace and reconciles man to his lot.
Lord, it is my chief complaint, That my love is weak and faint; Yet I love thee and adore, Oh for grace to love thee more!