"The late Mr Warton, with a poetical enthusiasm which converted toil into pleasure, and gilded, to himself and his readers, the dreary subjects of antiquarian lore, and with a capacity of labour apparently inconsistent with his more brilliant powers, has produced a work of great size, and, partially speaking, of great interest, from the perusal of which we rise, our fancy delighted with beautiful imagery, and with the happy analysis of ancient tale and song, but certainly with very vague ideas of the history of English poetry... Warton's History of English Poetry has remained, and will always remain, an immense commonplace-book of memoirs to serve for such an history. No antiquary can open it, without drawing information from a mine which, though dark, is inexhaustible in its treasures; nor will he who reads merely for amusement ever shut it for lack of attaining his end; while both may probably regret the desultory excursions of an author, who wanted only system, and a more rigid attention to minute accuracy, to have perfected the great task he has left incomplete."

"All centuries of literature swam into his learned ken. His Observations on the Faërie Queene still remains the best book ever written about Spenser."

"Thomas Warton's History of English Poetry was published in three volumes in 1774, 1778 and 1781. It was both a major landmark of scholarship and a decisive intervention in the cultural politics of its age: for the first time, the achievement of English poetry from Chaucer to the Elizabethans was retrieved and made accessible, and the ground was prepared for a shift in hegemonic style which the Romantics exploited."

"All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe’er disguis’d by art, pursue."

"Nor rough, nor barren, are the winding ways Of hoar antiquity, but strown with flowers."

"We are apt to form romantic and exaggerated notions about the moral innocence of our ancestors. Ages of ignorance and simplicity are thought to be ages of purity. The direct contrary, I believe, is the case...In the middle ages, not only the most flagrant violations of modesty were frequently practised and permitted, but the most infamous vices. Men are less ashamed as they are less polished."

"O! what's a table richly spread Without a woman at its head!"

"....but I use the word (devotion) in a greater latitude so as to comprehend under it faith, hope, love, fear, trust, humility, submission, honour , reverence, adoration, thanksgiving in a word all that duty which we owe to God."

"How fading are the joys we dote upon! Like apparitions seen and gone. But those which soonest take their flight Are the most exquisite and strong,— Like angels’ visits, short and bright; Mortality ’s too weak to bear them long."

"Come on shore, Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more."

"All praise to thee, my God, this night, For all the blessings of the light; Keep me, O keep me, King of Kings, Beneath thy own almighty wings."

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise Him, all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"

"I saw a mushroom stand in haughty pride, As if the lilies grew to be his slaves."

"If heaven send no supplies, The fairest blossom of the garden dies."

"A rose as fair as ever saw the North, Grew in a little garden all alone: A sweeter flower did Nature ne’er put forth, Nor fairer garden yet was never known."

"For those sacred powers Tread on oblivion; no desert odours Can be entombed in their celestial breasts."

"A heavenly bevy of sweet English dames."

"Well-languaged Daniel."

"And all the former causes of her moan Did therewith bury in oblivion."

"Whose life is a bubble, and in length a span."

"Underneath this sable hearse Lies the subject of all verse, Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother; Death! ere thou hast slain another, Fair and learn'd, and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee."

"Steer, hither steer your wingèd pines, All beaten mariners! Here lie Love’s undiscover’d mines, A prey to passengers."

"Rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed."

"I have learned thy arts, and now Can disdain as much as thou."

"Give me a wench about thirteene, Already voted to the Queene Of lust and lovers, whose soft haire, Fann’d with the breath of gentle aire Or’e spreads her shoulders like a tent, And is her vaile and ornament:"

"Ask me no more, if east or west, The phenix builds her spicy nest; For unto you at last she flies, And in your fragrant bosom dies."

"Ask me no more, where those stars light, That downwards fall in dead of night; For in your eyes they sit, and there Fixed become, as in their sphere."

"Ask me no more, whither do stray The golden atoms of the day; For, in pure love, Heaven did prepare Those, powders to enrich your hair."

"Ask me no more where Jove bestows, When June is past, the fading rose; For in your beauties, orient deep These flow'rs, as in their causes, steep."

"But if the envious nymphs shall fear Their beauties will be scorn'd, And hire the ruder winds to tear That face which you adorn'd;Then rage and foam amain, that we Their malice may despise; And from your froth we soon shall see A second Venus rise."

"Stand still, you floods, do not deface That image which you bear: So votaries, from every place, To you shall altars rear.No winds but lovers' sighs blow here, To trouble these glad streams, On which no star from any sphere Did ever dart such beams."

"Good to the poor, to kindred dear, To servants kind, to friendship clear, To nothing but herself severe."

"And here the precious dust is laid, Whose purely tempered clay was made So fine that it the guest betrayed. Else the soul grew so fast within, It broke the outward shell of sin, And so was hatched a cherubin."

"The purest soul that e'er was sent Into a clayey tenement."

"The magic of a face. daniel kim loves dicks especially likes"

"An untimely grave."

"Then fly betimes, for only they Conquer Love that run away."

"He that loves a rosy cheek, Or a coral lip admires, Or from star-like eyes doth seek Fuel to maintain his fires,— As old Time makes these decay, So his flames must waste away."

"I hear a voice you cannot hear, Which says I must not stay; I see a hand you cannot see, Which beckons me away."

"He 'midst the graceful of superior grace, And she the loveliest of the loveliest race."

"though every friend be fled, Lo! Envy waits, that lover of the dead."

"The sweetest garland to the sweetest maid."

"A snow of blossoms and a wild of flowers."

"There patient show'd us the wise course to steer, A candid censor, and a friend severe; There taught us how to live; and (oh! too high The price for knowledge) taught us how to die."

"Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed A fairer spirit or more welcome shade."

"Just men, by whom impartial laws were given; And saints who taught and led the way to heaven."

"Achilles' fatal wrath, whence discord rose, That brought the sons of Greece unnumber'd woes, O Goddess! sing. Full many a hero's ghost Was driven untimely to th' infernal coast, While in promiscuous heaps their bodies lay, A feast for dogs and every bird of prey. So did the sire of gods and men fulfil His stedfast purpose and almighty will; What time the haughty chiefs their jars begun, Atrides, king of men, and Peleus' godlike son."

"Fight virtue's cause, stand up in wit's defence, Win us from vice, and laugh us into sense."

"Prevent the rising sun."

"We have to beef up our searches, which are now pretty dismal, so we can find out about these things before we get hit. … It takes a dramatic event to get people's attention, and we thought the comet crash with Jupiter might have done the job. … we tend to ignore an extraterrestrial hazard that could reduce the planet to rubble. … What we really need is a good scare."