Playwrights From England

"Friendship is Love without wings."

"I loved my country, and I hated him."

"Whose game was empires and whose stakes were thrones, Whose table earth, whose dice were human bones."

"Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred."

"Yet in my lineaments they trace Some features of my father's face."

"It is the hour when from the boughs The nightingale's high note is heard; It is the hour when lovers' vows Seem sweet in every whisper'd word."

"Lord of himself,—that heritage of woe!"

"Friendship may, and often does, grow into love, but love never subsides into friendship."

"They never fail who die In a great cause."

"Hands promiscuously applied, Round the slight waist, or down the glowing side."

"A great poet belongs to no country; his works are public property, and his Memoirs the inheritance of the public."

"I awoke one morning and found myself famous."

"Seek out — less often sought than found — A Soldier's Grave, for thee the best; Then look around and choose thy Ground, And take thy Rest."

"My days are in the yellow leaf; The flowers and fruits of Love are gone; The worm — the canker, and the grief Are mine alone!"

"What's drinking? A mere pause from thinking!"

"He seems To have seen better days, as who has not Who has seen yesterday?"

"Who killed John Keats? "I," says the Quarterly, So savage and Tartarly; "'Twas one of my feats.""

"That which I am, I am; I did not seek For life, nor did I make myself."

"I live, But live to die: and, living, see no thing To make death hateful, save an innate clinging, A loathsome and yet all invincible Instinct of life, which I abhor, as I Despise myself, yet cannot overcome— And so I live. Would I had never lived!"

"Because He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow? I judge but by the fruits—and they are bitter— Which I must feed on for a fault not mine."

"Send me no more reviews of any kind. — I will read no more of evil or good in that line. — Walter Scott has not read a review of himself for thirteen years."

"The world is a bundle of hay, Mankind are the asses that pull, Each tugs in a different way— And the greatest of all is John Bull!"

"The best of prophets of the future is the past."

"Oh, talk not to me of a name great in story; The days of our youth are the days of our glory; And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty."

"When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home, Let him combat for that of his neighbours; Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome And get knock'd on the head for his labours. To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan, And is always as nobly requited; Then battle for freedom wherever you can. And, if not shot or hang'd, you'll get knighted."

"And if we do but watch the hour, There never yet was human power Which could evade, if unforgiven, The patient search and vigil long Of him who treasures up a wrong."

""Bring forth the horse!" — the horse was brought; In truth, he was a noble steed, A Tartar of the Ukraine breed, Who look'd as though the speed of thought Were in his limbs."

"Were't the last drop in the well, As I gasp'd upon the brink, Ere my fainting spirit fell 'T is to thee that I would drink."

"Here's a sigh to those who love me, And a smile to those who hate: And, whatever sky's above me, Here's a heart for every fate."

"My boat is on the shore, And my bark is on the sea; But, before I go, Tom Moore. Here's a double health to thee!"

"As the liberty lads o'er the sea Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood, So we, boys, we Shall die fighting or live free, And down with all kings but King Ludd!"

"The careful pilot of my proper woe."

"In the desert a fountain is springing, In the wide waste there still is a tree, And a bird in the solitude singing, Which speaks to my spirit of thee."

"Though the day of my Destiny's over, And the star of my Fate hath declined, Thy soft heart refused to discover The faults which so many could find."

"I had a dream, which was not all a dream."

"There be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee; And like music on the waters Is thy sweet voice to me."

"There 's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away."

"A light broke in upon my brain, — It was the carol of a bird; It ceased, and then it came again, The sweetest song ear ever heard."

"Oh, God! it is a fearful thing To see the human soul take wing In any shape, in any mood."

"My hair is grey, but not with years, Nor grew it white In a single night, As men's have grown from sudden fears."

"Fare thee well! and if forever, Still forever, fare thee well: Even though unforgiving, never 'Gainst thee shall my heart rebel."

"My great comfort is, that the temporary celebrity I have wrung from the world has been in the very teeth of all opinions and prejudices. I have flattered no ruling powers; I have never concealed a single thought that tempted me."

"Who knows whether, when a comet shall approach this globe to destroy it, as it often has been and will be destroyed, men will not tear rocks from their foundations by means of steam, and hurl mountains, as the giants are said to have done, against the flaming mass?—and then we shall have traditions of Titans again, and of wars with Heaven."

"You are the fools, not I — for I did dwell With a deep thought, and with a softened eye, On that Old Sexton's natural homily, In which there was Obscurity and Fame, The Glory and the Nothing of a Name."

"Where may the wearied eye repose When gazing on the Great; Where neither guilty glory glows, Nor despicable state? Yes — one — the first — the last — the best — The Cincinnatus of the West, Whom envy dared not hate, Bequeath'd the name of Washington, To make man blush there was but one!"

"If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom."

"And thou wert lovely to the last, Extinguish'd, not decay'd; As stars that shoot along the sky Shine brightest as they fall from high."

"The love where Death has set his seal, Nor age can chill, nor rival steal, Nor falsehood disavow."

"Maid of Athens, ere we part, Give, oh give me back my heart!"

"The poor dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend."