Great Throughts Treasury

"That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care."

"The ancient poets animated all objects with Gods or geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged and numerous senses could perceive. And particularly they studied the genius of each city and country, placing it under its mental deity; till a system was formed, which some took advantage of, and enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began priesthood; choosing forms of worship from poetic tales. And at length they pronounc'd that the Gods had order'd such things. Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast."

"The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years is true, as I have heard from hell. For the cherub with his flaming sword is hereby commanded to leave his guard at tree of life, and when he does, the whole creation will be consumed, and appear infinite, and holy whereas it now appears finite and corrupt."

"The angel that presided o'er my birth said `little creature, formed of joy and mirth, go, love without the help of anything on earth.'"

"The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the horse, how he shall take his prey."

"The arts of peace are great, and no less glorious than those of war."

"The atoms of Democritus and newton's particles of light are sands upon the red sea shore, where Israel's tents do shine so bright."

"The bat that flits at close of eve has left the brain that won't believe. The owl that calls upon the night speaks the unbeliever's fright."

"The beggar's rags, fluttering in air, does to rags the heavens tear."

"The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest."

"The bounded is loathed by its possessor. The same dull round even of a universe would soon become a mill with complicated wheels. If the many become the same as the few, when possess'd, more! More! Is the cry of a mistaken soul, less than all cannot satisfy man. If any could desire what he is incapable of possessing, despair must be his eternal lot. The desire of man being infinite the possession is infinite and himself infinite."

"The busy bee has no time for sorrow."

"The caterpillar on the leaf repeats to thee thy mother's grief."

"The child's toys and the old man's reasons are the fruits of the two seasons."

"The cistern contains: the fountain overflows."

"The countless gold of a merry heart, the rubies and pearls of a loving eye, the indolent never can bring to the mart, nor the secret hoard up in his treasury."

"The crow wished everything was black, the Owl, that everything was white."

"The cut worm forgives the plow."

"The desire of man being infinite, the possession is infinite, and himself infinite."

"The difference between a bad artist and a good one is the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does."

"The divine vision still was seen, still was the human form divine weeping in weak and mortal clay"

"The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow."

"The emmet's inch and eagle's mile make lame philosophy to smile. He who doubts from what he sees will ne'er believe, do what you please."

"The enquiry in England is not whether a man has talents and genius, but whether he is passive and polite and a virtuous ass and obedient to noblemen's opinions in art and science. If he is, he is a good man. If not, he must be starved."

"The essentials to happiness are something to love, something to do, and something to hope for."

"The eye altering, alters all."

"The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of war, the beard of earth."

"The fields from Islington to Marybone, to primrose hill and saint john's wood, were builded over with pillars of gold; and there Jerusalem's pillars stood."

"The following Discourse [on art, by Sir Joshua Reynolds] is particularly Interesting to Blockheads as it endeavors to prove that There is No such thing as Inspiration and that any Man of a plain Understanding may by Thieving from Others become a Mich Angelo."

"The fool who persists in his folly will become wise."

"The foundation of empire is art and science remove them or degrade them and the empire is no more — empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose."

"The fox condemns the trap, not himself."

"The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion."

"The generations of men run on in the tide of time, but leave their destined lineaments permanent for ever and ever."

"The Goddess fortune is the devil's servant, ready to kiss any one's ass."

"The Gods of the earth and sea sought through nature to find this tree. But their search was all in vain: there grows one in the human brain."

"The grave is Heaven's golden gate, and rich and poor around it wait; O Shepherdess of England's fold, behold this gate of pearl and gold!"

"The gulfing whale was like a dot in the spell. Yet look upon it, and 'twould size and swell To its huge self, and the minutest fish Would pass the very hardest gazer's wish, And show his little eye's anatomy."

"The harlot's cry from street to street shall weave old England's winding sheet."

"The head sublime, the heart pathos, the genitals beauty, the hands and feet proportion."

"The holy word that walk'd among the ancient trees, calling the lapsèd soul, 0and weeping in the evening dew; that might control the starry pole, and fallen, fallen light renew!"

"The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure."

"The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs, thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands."

"The human mind cannot go beyond the gift of God, the holy ghost. To suppose that art can go beyond the finest specimens of art that are now in the world is not knowing what art is; it is being blind to the gifts of the spirit."

"The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself."

"The inquiry in England is not whether a man has talents and genius, but whether he is passive and polite and a virtuous ass and obedient to noblemen's opinions in art and science. If he is, he is a good man. If not, he must be starved."

"The iron hand crush'd the tyrant's head and became a tyrant in his stead."

"The lamb misused breeds public strife and yet forgives the butcher's knife."

"The lark sitting upon his earthy bed, just as the morn appears, listens silent, then springing from the waving corn-field, loud he leads the choir of day."

"The learned, who strive to ascend into heaven by means of learning, appear to children like dead horses, when repelled by the celestial spheres."