Quote collection
298 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The moment when a man's head drops off is seldom or never, I am inclined to think, precisely the most agreeable of his life. Nevertheless, like the greater part of our misfortunes, even so serious a contingency brings its remedy and consolation with it, if the sufferer will but make the best, rather than the worst, of the accident which has befallen him."
"But this had been a sin of passion, not of principle, nor even purpose."
"No fountain so small but that Heaven may be imaged in its bosom."
"Last night, there came a frost, which has done great damage to my garden.... It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then, when we are entirely within her power, striking us to the heart."
"In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago."
"Shall we never never get rid of this Past? ... It lies upon the Present like a giant's dead body."
"The world, that grey-bearded and wrinkled profligate, decrepit, without being venerable."
"By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot."
"Death possesses a good deal, of real estate, namely, the graveyard in every town."
"Death is so genuine a fact that it excludes falsehoods, or betrays its emptiness; it is a touchstone that proves the gold, and dishonors the baser metal."
"A man--poet, prophet, or whatever be may be--readily persuades himself of his right to all the worship that is voluntarily tendered."
"The ideas of people in general are not raised higher than the roofs of the houses. All their interests extend over the earth's surface in a layer of that thickness. The meeting-house steeple reaches out of their sphere."
"Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!"
"Trusting no man as his friend, he could not recognize his enemy when the latter actually appeared."
"When the Artist rises high enough to achieve the Beautiful, the symbol by which he makes it perceptible to mortal senses becomes of little value in his eyes, while his spirit possesses itself in the enjoyment of the reality."
"Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided."
"Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world , individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever. (Wakefield)"
"What would a man do, if he were compelled to live always in the sultry heat of society, and could never bathe himself in cool solitude?"
"A few feathery flakes are scattered widely through the air, and hover downward with uncertain flight, now almost alighting on the earth, now whirled again aloft into remote regions of the atmosphere."
"I wish I had the gift of making rhymes, for methinks there is poetry in my head and heart since I have been in love with you."