"The saddest thing about any man is that he be ignorant, and the most exciting thing is that he knows."
"It becomes no man to nurse despair, but, in the teeth of clenched antagonisms, to follow up the worthiest till he die."
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Source: 'Maud' (1855) pt. 3, sect. 6, st. 5
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More quotes by Alfred the Great
"For in prosperity a man is often puffed up with pride, whereas tribulations chasten and humble him through suffering and sorrow. In the midst of prosperity the mind is elated, and in prosperity a man forgets himself; in hardship he is forced to reflect on himself, even though he be unwilling. In prosperity a man often destroys the good he has done; amidst difficulties he often repairs what he long since did in the way of wickedness."
"I desire to leave to the men that come after me a remembrance of me in good works."
"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, Argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew, From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue."
"Ah, what shall I be at fifty, should nature keep me alive, if I find the world so bitter when I am but twenty-five?"
"One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event, To which the whole creation moves."