Great Throughts Treasury

"No solemn sanctimonious face I pull, nor think I’m pious when I’m only bilious; nor study in my sanctum supercilious, to frame a Sabbath Bill or forge a Bull."

"No sun—no moon—no morn—no noon, no dawn—no dusk—no proper time of day, no warmth—no cheerfulness—no healthful ease, no road, no street, no t’ other side the way, no comfortable feel in any member— no shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, no fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!"

"My books kept me from the ring, the dog-pit, the tavern, and the saloon."

"Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine!"

"Oh would I were dead now, or up in my bed now, to cover my head now, and have a good cry!"

"Pity it is to slay the meanest thing. One more unfortunate weary of breath, rashly importunate, gone to her death."

"O bed! O bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head!"

"Our very hopes belied our fears, our fears our hopes belied we thought her dying when she slept, and sleeping when she died."

"Seem’d washing his hands with invisible soap in imperceptible water."

"She stood breast-high amid the corn clasped by the golden light of morn, like the sweetheart of the sun, who many a glowing kiss had won."

"Some minds improve by travel, others, rather, resemble copper wire, or brass, which get the narrower by going farther."

"Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old to the very verge of the churchyard mould."

"Straight down the crooked lane, and all round the square. A plain Direction."

"Take her up tenderly, lift her with care; fashioned so slenderly,young, and so fair!"

"That a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against himself."

"That fierce thing they call a conscience."

"The best of friends fall out, and so his teeth had done some years ago."

"The blind man of colours all wrong deemeth."

"The worthynesse of women passeth mennes, in certain."

"There are three things which the public will always clamor for, sooner or later: namely, novelty, novelty, novelty."

"There is a silence where hath been no sound, there is a silence where no sound may be,— In the cold grave, under the deep, deep sea,or in the wide desert where no life is found."

"Thus she stood amid the stooks, praising God with sweetest looks."

"There is even a happiness - that makes the heart afraid."

"There’s a double beauty whenever a swan swims on a lake with her double thereon."

"To attempt to advise conceited people is like whistling against the wind."

"We watched her breathing through the night, her breathing soft and low, as in her breast the wave of life kept heaving to and fro."

"When he is forsaken, withered and shaken, what can an old man do but die? Spring it is cheery."

"Well, something must be done for May, the time is drawing nigh - to figure in the Catalogue, and woo the public eye."

"What is a modern poet's fate? To write his thoughts upon a slate; the critic spits on what is done, gives it a wipe — and all is gone."

"Whoso that frõ the poore mannes cry stoppeth his eares though he loude crye, shall not be heard; and moreover, rede ye, his days shall increase and multiplye that avarice hateth — this is no lie."

"With fingers weary and worn, with eyelids heavy and red, a woman sat in unwomanly rags plying her needle and thread,— Stitch! stitch! stitch! O men with sisters dear, O men with mothers and wives, it is not linen you’re wearing out, but human creatures’ lives! Sewing at once a double thread, a shroud as well as a shirt… O God! that bread should be so dear, and flesh and blood so cheap! No blessed leisure for love or hope, but only time for grief…My tears must stop, for every drop hinders needle and thread."

"With how great labour or with how great paine men winne good, to the world leave it shall; unto the pit goeth naught but the careyne. [carcass]"