The fire-fly wakens: waken thou with me.
Now droops the milk white peacock like a ghost, And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.
Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up, And slips into the bosom of the lake:
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.
‘The Princess’ (1847) pt. 7, l. 161, song (added 1850)
Come down, O maid, from yonder mountain height: What pleasure lives in height?
‘The Princess’ (1847) pt. 7, l. 177, song (added 1850)
For Love is of the valley, come thou down And find him; by the happy threshold, he, Or hand in hand with Plenty in the maize, Or red with spirted purple of the vats,
Or foxlike in the vine; nor cares to walk With Death and Morning on the silver horns.
‘The Princess’ (1847) pt. 7, l. 184, song (added 1850)
Sweet is every sound,
Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet; Myriads of rivulets hurrying through the lawn, The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.
‘The Princess’ (1847) pt. 7, l. 203, song (added 1850)
No little lily-handed baronet he,
A great broad-shouldered genial Englishman, A lord of fat prize-oxen and of sheep,
A raiser of huge melons and of pine, A patron of some thirty charities,
A pamphleteer on guano and on grain.
‘The Princess’ (1847) ‘Conclusion’ l. 84
At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,
And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away: ‘Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!’ Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: ‘‘Fore God I am no coward;
But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear, And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick. We are six ships of the line; can we fight with fifty-three?’
Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: ‘I know you are no coward; You fly them for a moment to fight with them again.
But I’ve ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore.
I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard, To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.’
So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that day,
Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven.
‘The Revenge’ (1878) st. 1
And Sir Richard said again: ‘We be all good English men. Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil, For I never turned my back upon Don or devil yet.’
‘The Revenge’ (1878) st. 4
And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over the summer sea, But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty-three.
‘The Revenge’ (1878) st. 9
‘Sink me the ship, Master Gunner—sink her, split her in twain! Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!’
And the gunner said ‘Ay, ay,’ but the seamen made reply: ‘We have children we have wives,
And the Lord hath spared our lives.’
‘The Revenge’ (1878) st. 11
And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign grace; But he rose upon their decks, and he cried:
‘I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true; I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do:
With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!’ And he fell upon their decks, and he died.
‘The Revenge’ (1878) st. 13
And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags To be lost evermore in the main.
‘The Revenge’ 1878) st. 14
My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure.
‘Sir Galahad’ (1842)
A man had given all other bliss, And all his worldly worth for this, To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips.
‘Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere’ (1842)
Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits.
‘Song—The Owl’ (1830)
The woods decay, the woods decay and fall, The vapours weep their burthen to the ground, Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath, And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality
Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms, Here at the quiet limit of the world.
‘Tithonus’ (1860, revised 1864) l. 1
Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears, And make me tremble lest a saying learnt, In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true?
‘The gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.’
‘Tithonus’ (1860, revised 1864) l. 46
Of happy men that have the power to die, And grassy barrows of the happier dead.
‘Tithonus’ (1860, revised 1864) l. 70
You’ll have no scandal while you dine, But honest talk and wholesome wine.
‘To the Revd F. D. Maurice’ (1855) st. 5
All the charm of all the Muses often flowering in a lonely word.
‘To Virgil’ (1882) st. 3
I salute thee, Mantovano,
I that loved thee since my day began, Wielder of the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of man.
‘To Virgil’ (1889) st. 10
This truth within thy mind rehearse, That in a boundless universe
Is boundless better, boundless worse.
‘The Two Voices’ (1842) st. 9
No life that breathes with human breath Has ever truly longed for death.
‘The Two Voices’ (1842) st. 132
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Matched with an agéd wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race.
‘Ulysses’ (1842) l. 1
I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honoured of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life.
‘Ulysses’ (1842) l. 6
This grey spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
‘Ulysses’ (1842) l. 30
This is my son, mine own Telemachus.
‘Ulysses’ (1842) l. 33
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me— That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
‘Ulysses’ (1842) l. 44
Every moment dies a man, Every moment one is born.
‘The Vision of Sin’ (1842) pt. 4, st. 9.
I grow in worth, and wit, and sense, Unboding critic-pen,
Or that eternal want of pence, Which vexes public men.
‘Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue’ (1842) st. 6
A land of settled government, A land of just and old renown,
Where Freedom slowly broadens down From precedent to precedent.
‘You ask me, why, though ill at ease’ (1842) st. 3
A louse in the locks of literature.
Said of Churton Collins to Edmund Gosse, in Evan Charteris ‘Life and Letters of Sir Edmund Gosse’ (1931) ch. 14
8.19 Terence c.190-159 B.C.
Hinc illae lacrimae.
Hence all those tears shed.
‘Andria’ l. 126
Amantium irae amoris integratio est.
Lovers’ rows make love whole again.
‘Andria’ l. 555
Nullumst iam dictum quod non dictum sit prius.
Nothing has yet been said that’s not been said before.
‘Eunuchus’ prologue l. 41
Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto.
I am a man, I count nothing human foreign to me.
‘Heauton Timorumenos’ l. 77
Fortis fortuna adiuvat.
Fortune assists the brave.
‘Phormio’ l. 203.
Quot homines tot sententiae: suo’ quoique mos.
There are as many opinions as there are people: each has his own correct way.
‘Phormio’ l. 454
8.20 St Teresa of Ávila 1512-82
Oh, v lame Dios, Señor cómo apret is a vestros amadores!
Alas, O Lord, to what a state dost Thou bring those who love Thee!
‘Interior Castle’ Mansion 6, ch. 11, para. 6; translated by the Benedictines of Stanbrook, 1921
8.21 Tertullian A.D. c.160-c.225
O testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae.
O evidence of a naturally Christian soul!
‘Apologeticus’ ch. 17, sect. 6
Plures efficimus quoties metimur a vobis, semen est sanguis Christianorum.
As often as we are mown down by you, the more we grow in numbers; the blood of Christians
is the seed.
‘Apologeticus’ ch. 50, sect. 13; traditionally quoted: ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’
Certum est quia impossibile est.
It is certain because it is impossible.
‘De Carne Christi’ ch. 5; often quoted: ‘Credo quia impossibile’
8.22 A. S. J. Tessimond 1902-62
Cats, no less liquid than their shadows, Offer no angles to the wind.
They slip, diminished, neat, through loopholes Less than themselves.
8.23 William Makepeace Thackeray 1811-63
He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob.
‘The Book of Snobs’ (1848) ch. 2
’Tis not the dying for a faith that’s so hard, Master Harry—every man of every nation has done that—’tis the living up to it that is difficult.
‘The History of Henry Esmond’ (1852) bk. 1, ch. 6
’Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.
‘The History of Henry Esmond’ (1852) bk. 1, ch. 7
What money is better bestowed than that of a school-boy’s tip?
‘The Newcomes’ (1853-5) vol. 1, ch. 16
He lifted up his head a little, and quickly said, ‘Adsum!’ and fell back...he, whose heart was as that of a little child, had answered to his name, and stood in the presence of The Master.
‘The Newcomes’ (1853-5) vol. 1, ch. 80
Yes, I am a fatal man, Madame Fribsbi. To inspire hopeless passion is my destiny.
‘Pendennis’ (1848-50) ch. 23 (Mirobolant)
Remember, it is as easy to marry a rich woman as a poor woman.
‘Pendennis’ (1848-50) ch. 28
For a slashing article, sir, there’s nobody like the Capting.
‘Pendennis’ (1848-50) ch. 32
The Pall Mall Gazette is written by gentlemen for gentlemen.
‘Pendennis’ (1848-50) ch. 32
Business first; pleasure afterwards.
The Queen of Paflagonia in ‘The Rose and the Ring’ (1855) ch. 1
A woman with fair opportunities and without a positive hump, may marry whom she likes.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 4
Whenever he met a great man he grovelled before him, and my-lorded him as only a free-born Briton can do.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 13
If a man’s character is to be abused, say what you will, there’s nobody like a relation to do the business.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 19
Them’s my sentiments!
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 21 (Fred Bullock)
Darkness came down on the field and city: and Amelia was praying for George, who was lying on his face, dead, with a bullet through his heart.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 32
Nothing like blood, sir, in hosses, dawgs, and men.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 35 (James Crawley)
How to live well on nothing a year.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 36 (title)
I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 36
Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?—Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.
‘Vanity Fair’ (1847-8) ch. 67
Werther had a love for Charlotte Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her? She was cutting bread and butter.
‘Sorrows of Werther’
Oh, Vanity of vanities!
How wayward the decrees of Fate are; How very weak the very wise,
How very small the very great are!
‘Vanitas Vanitatum’
8.24 Margaret Thatcher 1925—
We must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.
Speech to American Bar Association in London, 15 July 1985, in ‘The Times’ 16 July 1985
No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.
Television interview, 6 January 1986, in ‘The Times’ 12 January 1986
It is exciting to have a real crisis on your hands, when you have spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment.
On the Falklands campaign, 1982, in Chris Rose ‘The Dirty Man of Europe’
There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.
In ‘Woman’s Own’ 31 October 1987
8.25 Theocritus c.310-350 B.C.
Sweet is the whispering music of yonder pine that sings.
‘Idylls’ bk. 1
8.26 Louis Adolphe Thiers 1797-1877
[Le roi] régne et le peuple se gouverne.
The king reigns, and the people govern themselves.
Unsigned article in Le National, 20 January 1830; a signed article, 4 February 1830, reads: ‘Le roi n’administre pas, ne gouverne pas, il régne. [The king does not administer, does not govern, he reigns]’
8.27 Thomas á Kempis c.1380-1471
Opto magis sentire compunctionem: quam scire eius definitionem.
I would far rather feel remorse than know how to define it.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 1, sect. 3
O quam cito transit gloria mundi.
Oh how quickly the glory of the world passes away!
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 3, sect. 6.
Non quaeras quis hoc dixerit: sed, quid dicitur attende.
Seek not to know who said this or that, but take note of what has been said.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 5, sect. 1
Multo tutius est stave in subiectione: quam in praelatura.
It is much safer to be in a subordinate position than in authority.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 9, sect. 1
Nam homo proponit, sed Deus disponit.
Man proposes, but God disposes.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 19, sect. 2
Numquam sis ex toto otiosus, sed aut legens, aut scribens, aut orans, aut meditans, aut aliquid utilitatis pro communi laborans.
Never be completely idle, but either reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or at some
useful work for the common good.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 9, sect. 4
Hodie homo est: et cras non comparet. Cum autem sublatus fuerit ab oculis: etiam cito transit a mente.
Today the man is here; tomorrow he is gone. And when he is ‘out of sight’, quickly also is he
out of mind.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 23, sect. 1
Utinam per unam diem bene essemus conversati in hoc mundo.
Would that we had spent one whole day well in this world!
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 1, ch. 23, sect. 2
Passione interdum movemur: et zelum putamus.
We are sometimes stirred by emotion and take it for zeal.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 2, ch. 5, sect. 1
Si libenter crucem portas portabit te.
If you bear the cross gladly, it will bear you.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 2, ch. 12, sect. 5
De duobus malis minus est semper eligendum.
Of the two evils the lesser is always to be chosen.
‘De Imitatione Christi’ bk. 3, ch. 12, sect. 2
8.28 St Thomas Aquinas c.1225-74
Pange, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium, Sanguinisque pretiosi, Quem in mundi pretium Fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit gentium.
Sing, my tongue, of the mystery of the glorious Body, and of the precious Blood shed to
redeem the world by the King of all peoples, the fruit of a noble womb.
‘Pange Lingua Gloriosi’ (Corpus Christi hymn)
Tantum ergo sacramentum Veneremur cernui;
Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui.
Therefore we, before him bending, This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here.
‘Pange Lingua Gloriosi’ (Corpus Christi hymn, translated by J. M. Neale, E. Caswall, and others)
8.29 Brandon Thomas 1856-1914
I’m Charley’s aunt from Brazil—where the nuts come from.
‘Charley’s Aunt’ (1892) act 1
8.30 Dylan Thomas 1914-53
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
‘And death shall have no dominion’ (1936).
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
‘Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night’ (1952)
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green.
‘Fern Hill’ (1946)
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
