Great Throughts Treasury

"Better that they had ne'er been born, Who read to doubt, or read to scorn"

"Breathes there a man, with soul so dead, who never to himself has said, this is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, as home his footsteps he hath turned from wandering on a foreign strand! If such there be, go, mark him well; for him no Minstrel raptures swell; high though his titles, proud his name, boundless his wealth as wish can claim; despite those titles, power and pelf, the wretch, concentred all in self, living, shall forfeit fair reknown, and doubly dying, shall go down to the vile dust, from whence he sprung, unwept, unhonoured and unsung."

"Bluid is thicker than water."

"Blessed be his name, who hath appointed the quiet night to follow the busy day, and the calm sleep to refresh the wearied limbs and to compose the troubled spirit."

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!"

"But he had only received that sort of answer usually given by those who are more obstinate in following their own course, than strong in justifying it."

"But patience, cousin, and shuffle the cards Till our hand is a stronger one."

"But search the land of living men, where wilt thou find their like again?"

"But if I accept these conditions, said Fosti, what shall be the compensation of the king of Norway, my ally 'I Seven feet of English land, answered the envoy; or, as Hardrada is a giant, perhaps a little more."

"But woe awaits a country when she sees the tears of bearded men."

"But with morning cool repentance came."

"by profession an observer of tones and gestures,"

"Call it not vain;?they do not err, who say, that when the Poet dies, mute Nature mourns her worshipper, and celebrates his obsequies."

"Ch. 36, Malvoisin speaking to De Bois-Guilbert."

"Cared for no rogues but their own."

"Certainly, quoth Athelstane, women are the least to be trusted of all animals, monks and abbots excepted."

"Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of."

"Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!" Were the last words of Marmion."

"Chivalry! Why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection, the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant. Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword."

"Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can, come saddle your horses, and call up your men; come open the West Port, and let me gang free, and it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!"

"Come as the winds come, when forests are rended, come as the waves come, when navies are stranded."

"Come he slow or come he fast it is but death that comes at last"

"Come one, come all! this rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I."

"Court not the critic's smile nor dread his frown"

"Courtesy of temper, when it is to veil churlishness of deed, is but a knight?s girdle around the breast of a base clown."

"Craigengelt, you are either an honest fellow in right good earnest, and I scarce know how to believe that; or you are cleverer than I took you for, and I scarce know how to believe that either."

"Crystal and hearts would lose all their merit in the world if it were not for their fragility."

"Credit is like a looking-glass, which when once sullied by a breath, may be wiped clear again; but if once cracked can never be repaired."

"Death is dreadful, but in the first springtime of youth, to be snatched forcibly from the banquet to which the individual has but just sat down is peculiarly appalling."

"Despite those titles, power, and pelf, the wretch, concentred all in self, living, shall forfeit fair renown, and, doubly dying, shall go down to the vile dust, from whence he sprung,"

"Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life."

"Distance in truth produces in idea the same effect as in real perspective: objects are softened and rounded, and rendered doubly graceful; the harsher and more ordinary points of character are melted down; and those by which it is remembered are the more striking outlines, that mark sublimity, grace, or beauty. There are mists, too, in the mental, as in the natural horizon, to conceal what is less pleasing in distant objects; and there are happy lights to stream in full glory upon those points which can profit by brilliant illumination."

"Death -- the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening."

"Deceive, Weave, Web Each age has deemed the new-born year the fittest time for festal cheer. - Walter Scott"

"Do what you should, not what you may."

"Each age has deemed the new-born year. The fittest time for festal cheer."

"Do not Christians and Heathens, Jews and Gentiles, poets and philosophers, unite in allowing the starry influences?"

"Every cock fights best on his own dunghill."

"England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. ?Twas Christmas broach?d the mightiest ale; ?twas Christmas told the merriest tale; a Christmas gambol oft could cheer the poor man?s heart through half the year."

"Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest."

"Female forms of exquisite grace and beauty began to mingle in his mental adventures; nor was he long without looking abroad to compare the creatures of his own imagination with the females of actual life."

"Fidelity, purchased with money, money can destroy."

"Fear to do base unworthy things is valor; if they be done to us, to suffer them is valor too."

"Fat, fair, and forty."

"For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war, was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar."

"Fools should not have chapping sticks'; that is, weapons of offence."

"Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives! Fight on; death is better than defeat! Fight on brave knights! for bright eyes behold your deeds!"

"For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears."

"For Love will still be lord of all."

"For ne'er was flattery lost on poet's ear: a simple race! they waste their toil for the vain tribute of a smile."