All Quotes

"Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know."

"Stamps God's own name upon a lie just made, To turn a penny in the way of trade."

"I play with syllables and sport in song."

"Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, The substitute for genius, sense, and wit."

"Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more."

"Elegant as simplicity, and warm As ecstasy."

"Low ambition and the thirst of praise."

"But he (his musical finesse was such, So nice his ear, so delicate his touch) Made poetry a mere mechanic art, And ev'ry warbler has his tune by heart."

"Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads."

"Lights of the world, and stars of human race."

"Oh, laugh or mourn with me the rueful jest, A cassock’d huntsman and a fiddling priest!"

"Himself a wanderer from the narrow way, His silly sheep, what wonder if they stray?"

"Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid."

"As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, And hides the ruin that it feeds upon; So sophistry cleaves close to and protects Sin’s rotten trunk, concealing its defects."

"How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home."

"How shall I speak thee, or thy power address, Thou god of our idolatry, the Press? By thee religion, liberty, and laws, Exert their influence and advance their cause: By thee worse plagues than Pharaoh’s land befell, Diffused, make Earth the vestibule of Hell; Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise, Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies; Like Eden’s dread probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil is from thee!"

"No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest, Till half mankind were like himself possess'd."

"Laugh at all you trembled at before."

"'Tis hard if all is false that I advance, A fool must now and then be right by chance."

"He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own."

"A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me, and no other can."

"A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct; The language plain, and incidents well link’d; Tell not as new what ev’ry body knows; And, new or old, still hasten to a close."

"The pipe, with solemn interposing puff, Makes half a sentence at a time enough; The dozing sages drop the drowsy strain, Then pause, and puff—and speak, and pause again."

"Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys, Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours."

"I cannot talk with civet in the room, A fine puss-gentleman that's all perfume."

"The solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge."

"His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock it never is at home."

"I pity bashful men, who feel the pain Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain, And bear the marks upon a blushing face, Of needless shame, and self-impos'd disgrace."

"Our wasted oil unprofitably burns, Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns."

"That good diffused may more abundant grow."

"But that disease when soberly defined Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind."

"But Conversation, choose what theme we may, And chiefly when religion leads the way, Should flow, like waters after summer show'rs, Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers."

"The disencumbered Atlas of the state."

"He likes the country, but in truth must own, Most likes it, when he studies it in town."

"A business with an income at its heels Furnishes always oil for its own wheels."

"Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed."

"An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless when it goes as when it stands."

"Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn."

"Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark, To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark."

"Till authors hear at length, one general cry, Tickle and entertain us, or we die!The loud demand from year to year the same, Beggars invention and makes fancy lame."

"I praise the Frenchman, his remark was shrewd — How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat Whom I may whisper — solitude is sweet."

"I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; From the center all round to the sea I am lord of the fowl and the brute."

"O solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place."

"I am out of humanity's reach. I must finish my journey alone, Never hear the sweet music of speech; I start at the sound of my own."

"Society friendship and love Divinely bestow'd upon man, O had I the wings of a dove How soon I would taste you again!"

"Religion! what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word!"

"My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? O tell me I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see."

"There is mercy in every place, And mercy, encouraging thought! Gives even affliction a grace And reconciles man to his lot."

"But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; Ne'er sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd."

"How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged arrows of light."