Edward Young

"Ah! what is human life? How, like the dial's tardy-moving shade, Day after day slides from us unperceiv'd! The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth; Too subtle is the movement to be seen; Yet soon the hour is up—and we are gone."

"By all means use some time to be alone."

"The future... seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking, never quite done."

"They only babble who practise not reflection."

"Tomorrow is a satire on today, And shows its weakness."

"Final Ruin fiercely drives Her plowshare o'er creation."

"'T is elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand,— Scripture authentic! uncorrupt by man."

"An undevout astronomer is mad."

"The course of Nature is the art of God."

"Born Originals - how comes it to pass that we die Copies?"

"There is something in Poetry beyond Prose-reason; there are Mysteries in it not to be explained, but admired; which render mere Prose-men Infidels to their Divinity."

"For Rules, like Crutches, are a needful Aid to the Lame, tho' an impediment to the Strong."

"Life begins at forty."

"Der Mensch braucht nur wenig; und auch dieses Wenige nicht lange."

"Der Aufschub ist ein Dieb der Zeit."

"Das Leben lebt erst jenseits des Grabes."