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John Milton

 (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet,, , and a civil servant for the under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is most famous for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse.

 * See also:
 * Comus (1634)
 * Areopagitica (1644)
 * Paradise Lost (1667, 1674)
 * Paradise Regained (1671)
 * Samson Agonistes (1671)

Quotes

 * What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones, The labor of an age in pilèd stones, Or that his hallowed relics should be hid Under a star-y-pointing pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
 * On Shakespeare (1630)

 * And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.
 * On Shakespeare (1630)

 * How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
 * On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three (1631)

 * Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If ever deed of honour did thee please, Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
 * Sonnet VIII: When the Assault was Intended to the City

 * The great Emathian conqueror bid spare The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower Went to the ground.
 * Sonnet VIII: When the Assault was intended to the City

 * Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.
 * Arcades (1630-1634), line 68

 * Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof.
 * Arcades (1630-1634), line 88

 * Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race: Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace; And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross.
 * On Time (1633–34)

 * O nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray Warbl'st at eve, when all the woods are still.
 * Sonnet, To the Nightingale (c. 1637)

 * Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy,
 * At a Solemn Music (c. 1637), line 1

 * Where the bright seraphim in burning row Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow.
 * At a Solemn Music

 * A poet soaring in the high reason of his fancies, with his garland and singing robes about him.
 * The Reason of Church Government (1641), Book II, Introduction

 * By labor and intent study (which I take to be my portion in this life), joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to after-times, as they should not willingly let it die.
 * The Reason of Church Government (1641), Book II, Introduction

 * He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.
 * Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)

 * His words ... like so many nimble and airy servitors trip about him at command.
 * Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)

 * I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.
 * Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)

 * So little care they of beasts to make them men, that by their sorcerous doctrine of formalities, they take the way to transform them out of Christian men into judaizing beasts. Had they but taught the land, or suffered it to be taught, as Christ would it should have been in all plenteous dispensation of the word, then the poor mechanic might have so accustomed his ear to good teaching, as to have discerned between faithful teachers and false. But now, with a most inhuman cruelty, they who have put out the people's eyes, reproach them of their blindness; just as the Pharisees their true fathers were wont, who could not endure that the people should be thought competent judges of Christ's doctrine, although we know they judged far better than those great rabbis: yet “this people,” said they, “that know not the law is accursed.”
 * Apology for Smectymnuus (1642), section VIII

 * Truth...never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.
 * The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), Introduction

 * Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live.
 * The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce Preface: "TO THE PARLAMENT OF ENGLAND" (1643)

 * Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.
 * The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), Introduction. Compare: "The sun, which passeth through pollutions and itself remains as pure as before", Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Book ii (1605)

 * Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law.
 * Tetrachordon (1644–1645)

 * New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large.
 * On the new forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament (1645)

 * For other things mild Heav'n a time ordains, And disapproves that care, though wise in show, That with superfluous burden loads the day, And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
 * To Cyriack Skinner (1646–1647)

 * For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted Plagiarè.
 * Eikonoklastes (1649), 23

 * None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.
 * Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)

 * No man who knows aught, can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free.
 * Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)

 * Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war.
 * To the Lord General Cromwell (1652)
 * Quoted by President Benjamin Harrison in his dedication of the Chicago Auditorium, and thereafter inscribed on the building, as reported in Dr. William Carter, "Progress in World's Peace Movement", California Outlook (1913), Vol. 14, p. 11

 * When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless.
 * On His Blindness (1652)

 * Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait.
 * When I Consider How My Light is Spent (Also known asOn His Blindness) (1652)
 * Compare "Patience is also a form of action." Attributed to Auguste Rodin in: Leonard William Doob (1990). Hesitation: Impulsivity and Reflection. p. 124

 * Non est miserum esse caecum, miserum est caecitatem non posse ferre.
 * Translation: It is not miserable to be blind; it is miserable to be incapable of enduring blindness.
 * Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio Secunda (1654) p. 32
 * Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones Forget not.
 * On the Late Massacre in Piedmont (1655)

 * Cyriack, whose Grandsire on the Royal Bench Of British Themis, with no mean applause Pronounced and in his volumes taught our Laws, Which others at their Bar so often wrench
 * To Cyriack Skinner (1655)

 * Yet I argue not Against Heav'n's hand or will, nor bate one jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up, and steer Right onward.
 * To Cyriack Skinner, upon His Blindness (c. 1655)

 * Of which all Europe rings from side to side.
 * To Cyriack Skinner, upon His Blindness (c. 1655)

 * In mirth that after no repenting draws.
 * To Cyriack Skinner, upon His Blindness (c. 1655)

 * Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son
 * To Mr. Lawrence (1656)

 * Methought I saw my late espousèd saint Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave.
 * On His Deceased Wife (c. 1658)

 * But oh! as to embrace me she inclined, I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.
 * On His Deceased Wife (c. 1658)

 * [Rhyme is] but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meter; ... Not without cause therefore some both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected rhyme, ... as have also long since our best English tragedies, as... trivial and of no true musical delight; which [truly] consists only in apt numbers, fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings, a fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all good oratory.
 * Introduction to Paradise Lost Added, 1668

 * Such bickerings to recount, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air?
 * The History of England (1670), Book IV

 * For stories teach us, that liberty sought out of season, in a corrupt and degenerate age, brought Rome itself to a farther slavery: for liberty hath a sharp and double edge, fit only to be handled by just and virtuous men; to bad and dissolute, it becomes a mischief unwieldy in their own hands: neither is it completely given, but by them who have the happy skill to know what is grievance and unjust to a people, and how to remove it wisely; what good laws are wanting, and how to frame them substantially, that good men may enjoy the freedom which they merit, and the bad the curb which they need.
 * The Prose Works of John Milton, Volume II, Book III. (1847)

 * Madam, methinks I see him living yet; So well your words his noble virtues praise, That all both judge you to relate them true, And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.
 * To the Lady Margaret Ley

 * The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and imitate Him.
 * Quote reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 364

 * Such as may make thee search the coffers round.
 * At a Vacation Exercise. Line 31, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly.
 * Ode on the Death of a fair Infant, dying of a Cough, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day.
 * Sonnet to the Nightingale, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "That well by reason men it call may / The daisie, or els the eye of the day, / The emprise, and floure of floures all", Geoffrey Chaucer, Prologue of the Legend of Good Women, line 183

 * As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye.
 * On his being arrived to the Age of Twenty-three, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * That old man eloquent.
 * To the Lady Margaret Ley, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.
 * On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * License they mean when they cry, Liberty! For who loves that must first be wise and good.
 * On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste?
 * To Mr. Lawrence

 * Have hung My dank and dropping weeds To the stern god of sea.
 * Translation of Horace. Book i. Ode 5

 * Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies.
 * The Reason of Church Government, Introduction, Book ii

 * I neither oblige the belief of other person, nor overhastily subscribe mine own. Nor have I stood with others computing or collating years and chronologies, lest I should be vainly curious about the time and circumstance of things, whereof the substance is so much in doubt. By this time, like one who had set out on his way by night, and travelled through a region of smooth or idle dreams, our history now arrives on the confines, where daylight and truth meet us with a clear dawn, representing to our view, though at a far distance, true colours and shapes.
 * The History of England, Book ii

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity (1629)

 * This is the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King, Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring; For so the holy sages once did sing, That He our deadly forfeit should release, And with His Father work us a perpetual peace.
 * Stanza 1, line 1

 * It was the winter wild While the Heav'n-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies.
 * Hymn, stanza 1, line 29

 * No war, or battle's sound Was heard the world around. The idle spear and shield were high up hung.
 * Hymn, stanza 4, line 53

 * Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold.
 * Hymn, stanza 14, line 135

 * Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.
 * Hymn, stanza 18, line 172

 * The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine  Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.
 * Hymn, stanza 19, line 173

 * From haunted spring and dale Edged with poplar pale The parting genius is with sighing sent.
 * Hymn, stanza 20, line 184

 * Peor and Baälim Forsake their temples dim.
 * Hymn. Line 197

L'Allegro (1631)

 * Hence, loathèd Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy.
 * Line 1

 * Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest, and youthful jollity, Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, Nods and becks and wreathèd smiles.
 * Line 25

 * Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter, holding both his sides. Come, and trip it, as you go. On the light fantastic toe.
 * Line 31

 * The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.
 * Line 36

 * Mirth, admit me of thy crew, To live with her, and live with thee, In unreprovèd pleasures free.
 * Line 38

 * While the cock with lively din Scatters the rear of darkness thin, And to the stack, or the barn door, Stoutly struts his dames before, Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn Cheerly rouse the slumb'ring morn.
 * Line 49

 * And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale.
 * Line 67

 * Meadows trim, with daisies pied, Shallow brooks, and rivers wide; Towers and balements it sees Bosomed high in tufted trees, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The cynosure of neighboring eyes.
 * Line 75

 * Herbs, and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.
 * Line 85

 * And the jocund rebecks sound To many a youth, and many a maid, Dancing in the checkered shade. And young and old come forth to play On a sunshine holiday.
 * Line 94

 * Then to the spicy nut-brown ale.
 * Line 100

 * Then lies him down the lubber fiend, And stretched out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength.
 * Line 110

 * Towered cities please us then, And the busy hum of men.
 * Line 117

 * Ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize.
 * Line 121

 * And pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask, and antique pageantry, Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on, Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild, And ever, against eating cares, Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse Such as the meeting soul may pierce, In notes with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out.
 * Line 127; comparable to: "Wisdom married to immortal verse", William Wordsworth, The Excursion, book vii

 * Untwisting all the chains that tie The hidden soul of harmony.
 * Line 143

 * Such strains as would have won the ear Of Pluto, to have quite set free His half-regained Eurydice. These delights, if thou canst give, Mirth, with thee, I mean to live.
 * Line 148

Il Penseroso (1631)

 * Hence vain deluding Joys, The brood of Folly without father bred!
 * Line 1

 * The gay motes that people the sunbeams.
 * Line 8

 * And looks commercing with the skies, Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.
 * Line 39

 * Forget thyself to marble.
 * Line 42

 * And join with thee, calm Peace and Quiet, Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet.
 * Line 45

 * And add to these retired Leisure, That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.
 * Line 49

 * Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy!
 * Line 61

 * I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, To behold the wandering moon, Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heav'n's wide pathless way, And oft, as if her head she bowed, Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
 * Line 65

 * Oft, on a plat of rising ground, I hear the far-off curfew sound Over some wide-watered shore, Swinging low with sullen roar.
 * Line 73

 * Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom, Far from all resort of mirth, Save the cricket on the hearth.
 * Line 79

 * Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy In sceptred pall come sweeping by, Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine.
 * Line 97

 * But, O sad Virgin, that thy power Might raise Musaeus from his bower, Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing Such notes as warbled to the string, Drew Iron tears down Pluto's cheek, And made Hell grant what Love did seek.
 * Line 105

 * Or call up him that left half told The story of Cambuscan bold.
 * Line 109

 * Where more is meant than meets the ear.
 * Line 120

 * When the gust hath blown his fill, Ending on the rustling leaves With minute drops from off the eaves.
 * Line 128

 * Hide me from day's garish eye, While the bee with honied thigh, That at her flowery work doth sing, And the waters murmuring With such consort as they keep, Entice the dewy-feathered sleep.
 * Line 141

 * And storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light. There let the pealing organ blow, To the full-voiced choir below, In service high, and anthems clear As may, with sweetness, through mine ear Dissolve me into ecstasies, And bring all heaven before mine eyes.
 * Line 159

 * Till old experience do attain To something like prophetic strain.
 * Line 173

Comus (1634)

 * He that has light within his own clear breast, May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day; But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon.
 * Lines 381-385

Lycidas (1637)

 * Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, And with forced fingers rude Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
 * Line 1

 * He knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
 * Line 10

 * Without the meed of some melodious tear.
 * Line 14

 * Under the opening eyelids of the morn, We drove afield; and both together heard What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn, Batt'ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night.
 * Line 26

 * But O the heavy change, now thou art gone, Now thou art gone and never must return!
 * Line 37

 * The gadding vine.
 * Line 40

 * Alas! what boots it with incessant care To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not better done as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days; But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorrèd shears, And slits the thin-spun life.
 * Line 64; comparable to: "Erant quibus appetentior famæ videretur, quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur" (Translated: "Some might consider him as too fond of fame, for the desire of glory clings even to the best of men longer than any other passion"), Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 6; said of Helvidius Priscus.

 * Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil.
 * Line 78

 * It was that fatal and perfidious bark, Built in th' eclipse, and rigged with curses dark, That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.
 * Line 100

 * Last came, and last did go, The Pilot of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).
 * Line 108

 * Blind mouths! That scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook.
 * Line 119

 * The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But, swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread: Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said; But that two-handed engine at the door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.
 * Line 123

 * Throw hither all your quaint enamell'd eyes That on the green turf suck the honied showers, And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, The white pink, and the pansy freakt with jet, The glowing violet, The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine, With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
 * Line 139

 * Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world.
 * Line 156

 * Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth.
 * Line 163

 * For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed; And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky. So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Through the dear might of him that walked the waves.
 * Line 166

 * He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay.
 * Line 188

 * At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue: Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new.
 * Line 192

Tractate of Education (1644)

 * The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents.

 * Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees.

 * I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct ye to a hillside, where I will point ye out the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every side that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming.

 * Inflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages.

 * Ornate rhetoric thought out of the rule of Plato... To which poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed rather precedent, as being less subtle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate.

 * In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go out, and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.

 * Attic tragedies of stateliest and most regal argument.

Paradise Lost (1667)

 * And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th' Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men.
 * i.17-26

 * The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.
 * i.254-255

 * To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
 * i.262-263

 * They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat, Wav'd over by that flaming Brand, the Gate With dreadful Faces throng'd and fierie Armes: Som natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon; The World was all before them, where to choose Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide: They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through EDEN took thir solitarie way.
 * x.1532-40

Paradise Regained (1671)

 * Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell, And devilish machinations come to nought.
 * Book I: Lines 72-73

 * Behold the kings of the Earth how they oppress Thy chosen, to what highth thir pow'r unjust They have exalted, and behind them cast All fear of thee, arise and vindicate Thy Glory, free thy people from thir yoke
 * Book II: Lines 44-48

 * My rising is thy fall
 * Spoke by Jesus to Satan
 * Book III: Line 201

Samson Agonistes (1671)

 * But he, though blind of sight, Despised, and thought extinguished quite, With inward eyes illuminated, His fiery virtue roused From under ashes into sudden flame, [...] So Virtue, given for lost, Depressed and overthrown, as seemed, Like that self-begotten bird In the Arabian woods embost, That no second knows nor third, And lay erewhile a holocaust, From out her ashy womb now teemed, Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most When most unactive deemed; And, though her body die, her fame survives, A secular bird, ages of lives.
 * Lines 1687-1692 & 1697-1707

Misattributed

 * Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.
 * Attributed to Milton at, , great-quotes.com, and brainyquote.com.
 * Spirituality author Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, in her 1996 Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude: "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life (is it abundant or is it lacking?) and the world (is it friendly or is it hostile?)." A Milton quotation occurs on the same page.

Quotes about Milton

 * The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he Wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.
 * William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)

 * A little heavy, but no less divine.
 * Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto III, stanza 91

 * Milton's Paradise Lost is admirable; but am I therefore bound to maintain, that there are no flats amongst his elevations, when it is evident he creeps along sometimes for above a hundred lines together? Cannot I admire the height of his invention, and the strength of his expression, without defending his antiquated words, and the perpetual harshness of their sound? It is as much commendation as a man can bear, to own him excellent; all beyond it is idolatry.
 * John Dryden, Preface to Sylvae, or the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies (London, 1685)

 * Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; The next, in majesty; in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go: To make a third, she joined the former two.
 * John Dryden, Under Mr. Milton's Picture (1688)

 * No man has so happily copied the manner of Homer, or so copiously translated his Grecisms, and the Latin elegancies of Virgil. It is true he runs into a flat of thought, sometimes for a hundred lines together, but it is when he has got into a track of Scripture.
 * John Dryden, "A Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire" (18 August 1692), in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis (1693), Dedication, p. viii

 * Neither will I justify Milton for his blank verse... For whatever causes he alleges for the abolishing of rhyme (which I have not now the leisure to examine) his own particular reason is plainly this, that rhyme was not his talent; he had neither the ease of doing it, nor the graces of it.
 * John Dryden, "A Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire" (18 August 1692), in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis (1693), Dedication, p. ix

 * This man cuts us all out, and the ancients too.
 * John Dryden, as quoted in The Life of John Milton (1810) by Charles Symmons, p. 549

 * "'Better to rule in Hell, than serve in Heaven.' Eh, little brother-killer?" "Suh-certainly, Lord Lucifer. Whatever you say, Lord Lucifer." "We didn't say it. Milton said it. And he was blind."
 * Neil Gaiman, portraying dialogue between Lucifer and Cain, with Lucifer repudiating the lines attributted to him by Milton, in The Sandman #22, Season of Mists episode 1

 * An acrimonious and surly republican.
 * Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets (1781), "The Life of Milton"

 * The want of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for instruction, retire harassed and overburdened, and look elsewhere for recreation; we desert our master, and seek for companions.
 * Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets (1781), "The Life of Milton"

 * I...sate on deck during the whole voyage. As I could not read, I used an excellent substitute for reading. I went through Paradise Lost in my head. I could still repeat half of it, and that the best half. I really never enjoyed it so much. In the dialogue at the end of the fourth book Satan and Gabriel became to me quite like two of Shakspeare's men. Old Sharp once told me that Henderson the actor used to say to him that there was no better acting scene in the English drama than this. I now felt the truth of the criticism.
 * Thomas Macaulay's journal entry (16 August 1849), quoted in George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, Volume II (1876), pp. 263–264

 * Breakfasted with Macaulay. He thinks that, though the last eight books of Paradise Lost contain incomparable beauties, Milton's fame would have stood higher if only the first four had been preserved. He would then have been placed above Homer.
 * Thomas Macaulay recorded in Lord Carlisle's journal (29 November 1849), quoted in George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, Volume II (1876), p. 199

 * [A] puppy, once my pretty little man, now blear-eyed, or rather a blinding; having never had any mental vision, he has now lost his bodily sight; a silly coxcomb, fancying himself a beauty; an unclean beast, with nothing more human about him than his guttering eyelids; the fittest doom for him would be to hang him on the highest gallows, and set his head on the Tower of London.
 * Claudius Salmasius, Ad Ioannem Miltonum Responsio (1660); in Mark Pattison, Milton (1926)

 * John Milton was one whose natural parts might deservedly give him a place amongst the principal of our English Poets, having written two Heroick Poems and a Tragedy, namely Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Sampson Agonista. But his Fame is gone out like a Candle in a Snuff, and his Memory will always stink, which might have ever lived in honorable Repute, had not he been a notorious Traytor, and most impiously and villanously bely'd that blessed Martyr, King Charles the First.
 * William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets, 1687, in Edmund Gosse, Gossip in a Library (1913)

England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
 * Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
 * William Wordsworth, "London, 1802", in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807)

 * Milton, perhaps to relieve the uniformity of English structure, which tends to become too barely evident in blank verse, tries often to imitate the classical order; but the result is an effect often of artificiality, at best of solemnity. Homer's Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεὰ, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος Οὐλομένην, and Virgil's 'Arma virumque cano, Trojæ qui primus ab oris,' &c., put the right words in the right place, without any loss of spirit. Milton's opening—   Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit    Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste    Brought death into the world, and all our woe, &c. is like an organ prelude: no English writer of a secular epic in blank verse could begin thus with success. It is impossible not to feel how tense must have been the struggle of that toil which Milton had to bestow on the stubborn material of his native language, before the gold of his words and verses won its full refinement. Diction so magnificent yet so severe cannot carry the reader along; so far from being the mere slave of the thought, like Homer's Greek, it is itself a marvel of study and meditation, which arrests and amazes him.
 * "Translations of the Iliad", in Fraser's Magazine, Vol. 78, No. 466 ( October 1868)

title: John Milton


text:
James Shirley

James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 29, 1666) was an English poet and dramatist.

Quotes

 * Devouring Famine, Plague, and War, Each able to undo mankind, Death's servile emissaries are; Nor to these alone confined, He hath at will More quaint and subtle ways to kill; A smile or kiss, as he will use the art, Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.
 * Poem The Last Conqueror.

 * Death calls ye to the crowd of common men.
 * Cupid and Death.

The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses

 * The honour is overpaid, When he that did the act is commentator.
 * sc. i.

 * The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings: Sceptre and Crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
 * sc. iii.

 * Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.
 * sc. iii. Compare: "The sweet remembrance of the just Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust", Tate and Brady, Psalm cxxii.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: James Shirley


text:
John Denham

Sir John Denham (1614 or 1615 – 10 March 1669) was a Anglo-Irish poet and courtier. Son of the Chief Baron of Exchequer in Ireland, he was born in Dublin, and educated at Trinity College, Oxford and at Lincoln's Inn in London.

Quotes

 * I conceive it is a vulgar error in translating poets, to affect being fidus interpres... [for] poetry is of so subtile a spirit, that in the pouring out of one language into another, it will all evaporate; and if a new spirit be not added in the transfusion, there will remain nothing but a caput mortuum, there being certain graces and happinesses peculiar to every language, which give life and energy to the words... therefore if Virgil must needs speak English, it were fit he should speak not only as a man of this nation, but as man of this age.
 * The Destruction of Troy (1656), Preface

Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built; Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain.
 * But whither am I strayed? I need not raise
 * On Mr. John Fletcher's Works. Compare: "Poets are sultans, if they had their will; For every author would his brother kill", Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Prologues (republished in Dramatic Works, 1739); "Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne", Alexander Pope, Prologue to the Satires, line 197

The Sophy (1641)

 * The Sophy (London: Thomas Walkley, 1642)

 * Actions o' th' last age are like almanacks o' th' last year.
 * Act II, scene i, p. 12

Both of delays and rivals.
 * Ambition is like love, impatient
 * Act II, scene i, p. 14

 * Whatsoever Is worthy of their love, is worth their anger.
 * Act IV, scene i, p. 36

Cooper's Hill (1642)

 * But wealth is crime enough to him that's poor.
 * line 122

Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold; His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore, Search not his bottom, but survey his shore.
 * Though with those streams he no resemblance hold,
 * line 165

My great example, as it is my theme! '''Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage; without o'erflowing, full.'''
 * Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
 * line 189

 * Variety, which all the rest endears.
 * line 228

 * [U]ncertain ways unsafest are.
 * line 299

To Sir Richard Fanshaw (1648)

 * "To Sir Richard Fanshaw. Upon His Translation of Pastor Fido" (1648)

 * Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, That few but such as cannot write, translate.
 * line 1

 * Nor ought a genius less than his that writ Attempt translation.
 * line 9

 * That servile path thou nobly dost decline Of tracing word by word, and line by line; A new and nobler way thou dost pursue To make translations, and translators too; They but preserve the ashes, thou the flame, True to his sense, but truer to his fame.
 * line 15

Of Prudence (1668)

What's decent or indecent, false or true.'''
 * '''Wisdom's first progress is to take a view
 * line 1

Nor is led captive by the common voice.''' Clear-sighted Reason Wisdom's judgment leads, And Sense, her vassal, in her footsteps treads. That thou to Truth the perfect way may'st know, To thee all her specific forms I'll show: He that the way to honesty will learn, First what's to be avoided must discern. Thyself from flatt'ring self-conceit defend, Nor what thou dost not know to know pretend. '''Some secrets deep in abstruse darkness lie: To search them thou wilt need a piercing eye.''' Not rashly therefore to such things assent, Which, undeceived, thou after may'st repent; Study and time in these must thee instruct, And others' old experience may conduct. Wisdom herself her ear doth often lend To counsel offer'd by a faithful friend.
 * '''Wisdom of what herself approves makes choice,
 * line 11

For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.
 * Books should to one of these four ends conduce,
 * line 83

 * When any great design thou dost intend, Think of the means, the manner, and the end.
 * line 185

But by that glass thy own offences mend; Still seek to learn, yet care not much from whom, (So it be learning) or from whence it come. Of thy own actions, others' judgments learn; Often by small, great matters we discern: Youth what man's age is like to be doth show; We may our ends by our beginnings know.
 * Search not to find how other men offend,
 * line 225

First judge if those whom thou dost please judge right.
 * Let not the pleasing many thee delight,
 * line 229

Nor to know things whose knowledge is forbid; Nor climb on pyramids, which thy head turn round Standing, and whence no safe descent is found.
 * Search not to find what lies too deeply hid,
 * line 231

Misattributed

 * We're ne'er like angels till our passion dies.
 * Not by Denham, as often stated, but by Thomas Dekker. It is in his The Honest Whore Part 2, Act I, scene 2.

Quotes about Denham

 * In the time of the civill warres, George Withers, the poet, begged Sir John Denham's estate at Egham of the Parliament, in whose cause he was a captaine of horse. It happened that G. W. was taken prisoner, and was in danger of his life, having written severely against the king, &c. Sir John Denham went to the king, and desired his majestie not to hang him, for that whilest G. W. lived he should not be the worst poet in England.
 * Anecdote recounted in Brief Lives (1669 - 1696), by John Aubrey, Vol. I (1898), edited by Andrew Clark, p. 221

title: John Denham


text:
Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and physician.

Quotes

 * A nightcap decked his brows instead of bay, A cap by night — a stocking all the day!
 * Description of an Author's Bedchamber (1760).

 * Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
 * The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter VI

 * Men may be very learned, and yet very miserable; it is easy to be a deep geometrician, or a sublime astronomer, but very difficult to be a good man. I esteem, therefore, the traveller who instructs the heart, but despise him who only indulges the imagination. A man who leaves home to mend himself and others, is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.
 * The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter VII.

 * The better sort here pretend to the utmost compassion for animals of every kind. To hear them speak, a stranger would be apt to imagine they could hardly hurt the gnat that stung them: they seem so tender and so full of pity, that one would take them for the harmless friends of the whole creation; the protectors of the meanest insect or reptile that was privileged with existence. And yet, would you believe it? I have seen the very men who have thus boasted of their tenderness, at the same time devouring the flesh of six different animals toasted up in a fricassee. Strange contrariety of conduct! they pity and they eat the objects of their compassion.
 * The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter XV.

 * Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; It's like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt.
 * The Haunch of Venison (1776).

 * There is no arguing with Johnson: for if his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it.
 * From James Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791), October 26, 1769.

 * [To Mr. Johnson] If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.
 * From James Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791), April 27, 1773.

 * You may all go to pot.
 * Verses in reply to an invitation to dine at Dr. Baker's.

 * For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day; But he who is in battle slain Can never rise and fight again.
 * The Art of Poetry on a New Plan (1761), vol. ii. p. 147.
 * The saying "he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day" dates at least as far back as Menander (ca. 341–290 B.C.), Gnomai Monostichoi, aphorism #45: ἀνήρ ὁ ϕɛύγων καὶ πάλίν μαχήσεται (a man who flees will fight again). The Attic Nights (book 17, ch. 21) of Aulus Gellius (ca. 125–180 A.D.) indicates it was already widespread in the second century: "...the orator Demosthenes sought safety in flight from the battlefield, and when he was bitterly taunted with his flight, he jestingly replied in the well-known verse: The man who runs away will fight again".

The Bee (1759)

 * One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title page, another works away at the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.
 * No. 1 (Oct. 6, 1759).

 * The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.
 * No. 3 (Oct. 20, 1759).

 * As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent.
 * No. 175, Upon Unfortunate Merit.

 * Good people all, with one acord, Lament for Madame Blaize, Who never wanted a good word — From those who spoke her praise.
 * Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize, st. 1.

 * The king himself has followed her When she has walk'd before.
 * Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize, st. 5.

The Captivity, An Oratorio (1764)

 * As aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crush'd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around.
 * Act I.

 * That strain once more; it bids remembrance rise.
 * Act I.

 * O Memory! thou fond deceiver.
 * Act I.

 * To the last moment of his breath On hope the wretch relies; And e'en the pang preceding death Bids expectation rise.
 * Act II.

 * Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, Adorns and cheers our way; And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray.
 * Act II.

The Traveller (1764)

 * Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po.
 * Line 1.

 * Where'er I roam, whatever realms I see, My heart untraveled fondly turns to thee; Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain, And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.
 * Line 7.

 * And learn the luxury of doing good.
 * Line 22.

 * Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.
 * Line 26.

 * These little things are great to little man.
 * Line 42.

 * Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine!
 * Line 50.

 * Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, His first, best country ever is, at home.
 * Line 73.

 * Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails, And honor sinks where commerce long prevails.
 * Line 91.

 * Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
 * Line 126.

 * The canvas glow'd beyond ev'n Nature warm, The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.
 * Line 137.

 * By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd; The sports of children satisfy the child.
 * Line 153.

 * But winter lingering chills the lap of May.
 * Line 172.

 * Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose, Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.
 * Line 185.

 * So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar But bind him to his native mountains more.
 * Line 217.

 * Unknown those powers that raise the soul to flame, Catch every nerve, and vibrate through the frame. Their level life is but a mouldering fire, Unquenched by want, unfanned by strong desire.
 * Line 219.

 * Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days Have led their children through the mirthful maze, And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore, Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore.
 * Line 251.

 * They please, are pleased, they give to get esteem, Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.
 * Line 265.

 * To men of other minds my fancy flies, Embosomed in the deep where Holland lies. Methinks her patient sons before me stand, Where the broad ocean leans against the land.
 * Line 281.

 * Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, I see the lords of humankind pass by.
 * Line 327.

 * The land of scholars and the nurse of arms.
 * Line 356.

 * For just experience tells; in every soil, That those that think must govern those that toil.
 * Line 371.

 * Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.
 * Line 386.

 * Forc'd from their homes, a melancholy train, To traverse climes beyond the western main; Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around, And Niagara stuns with thundering sound.
 * Line 409.

 * Vain, very vain, my weary search to find That bliss which only centers in the mind.
 * Line 423.

 * Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel.
 * Line 436.

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

 * A book may be very amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.
 * Preface.

 * I was ever of the opinion that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single, and only talked of population.
 * Ch. 1, opening lines.

 * I...chose a wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well.
 * Ch. 1.

 * We sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favors.
 * Ch. 1.

 * Handsome is that handsome does.
 * Ch. 1.

 * Let us draw upon Content for the deficiencies of fortune.
 * Ch. 3.

 * That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the sentinel.
 * Ch. 5.

 * The premises being thus settled, I proceed to observe that the concatenation of self-existence, proceeding in a reciprocal duplicate ratio, naturally produces a problematical dialogism, which in some measure proves that the essence of spirituality may be referred to the second predicable.
 * Ch. 7.

 * I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too.
 * Ch. 7.

 * Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale, And guide my lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray.
 * Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 1.

 * No flocks that range the valley free To slaughter I condemn; Taught by that Power that pities me, I learn to pity them: But from the mountain’s grassy side A guiltless feast I bring; A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied, And water from the spring.
 * Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 6-7.

 * Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.
 * Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 8.

 * And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep, A shade that follows wealth or fame, And leaves the wretch to weep?
 * Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 19.

 * The sigh that rends thy constant heart Shall break thy Edwin's too.
 * Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 33.

 * By the living jingo, she was all of a muck of sweat.
 * Ch. 9.

 * They would talk of nothing but high life, and high-lived company, with other fashionable topics, such as pictures, taste, Shakespeare, and the musical glasses.
 * Ch. 9.

 * It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition.
 * Ch. 10.

 * Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.
 * Ch. 13.

 * It seemed to be pretty plain, that they had more of love than matrimony in them.
 * Ch. 16.

 * A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad When he put on his clothes.
 * Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 3.

 * And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree.
 * Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 4.

 * The dog, to gain some private ends, Went mad, and bit the man.
 * Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 5.

 * The man recovered of the bite, The dog it was that died.
 * Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 8.

 * To what happy accident is it that we owe so unexpected a visit?
 * Ch. 19.

 * To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.
 * Ch. 21.

 * When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can soothe her melancholy,  What art can wash her guilt away?
 * Ch. 29, Song, st. 1.

 * The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover,  And wring his bosom——is to die.
 * Ch. 29, Song, st. 2.
 * Variant: And wring his bosom, is—to die.
 * Parodied by T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922): When lovely woman stoops to folly and Paces about her room again, alone, She smoothes her hair with automatic hand, And puts a record on the gramophone.

The Good-Natured Man (1768)

 * This same philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey.
 * Act I.

 * He calls his extravagance, generosity; and his trusting everybody, universal benevolence.
 * Act I.

 * All his faults are such that one loves him still the better for them.
 * Act I.

 * Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.
 * Act I.

 * Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.
 * Act I, Scene 1.

 * Silence gives consent.
 * Act II.

 * Measures, not men, have always been my mark.
 * Act II.

 * Certainly, in two opposite opinions, if one be perfectly reasonable, the other can't be perfectly right.
 * Act IV.

The Deserted Village (1770)

 * Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.
 * Line 1.

 * The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made.
 * Line 13.

 * The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love, The matron's glance that would those looks reprove.
 * Line 29.

 * Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay; Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
 * Line 51.

 * His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.
 * Line 61.

 * How happy he who crowns in shades like these, A youth of labour with an age of ease.
 * Line 99.

 * Bends to the grave with unperceived decay, While resignation gently slopes the way; And, all his prospects brightening to the last, His heaven commences ere the world be past.
 * Line 109.

 * The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
 * Line 121.

 * A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year.
 * Line 141.

 * Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and shew'd how fields were won.
 * Line 157.

 * Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And e'en his failings leaned to Virtue's side.
 * Line 161.

 * And, as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.
 * Line 167.

 * Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.
 * Line 179.

 * Even children followed with endearing wile, And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile.
 * Line 183.

 * A man severe he was, and stern to view; I knew him well, and every truant knew: Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee, At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the bust whisper, circling round, Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned; Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declared how much he knew; 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too.
 * Line 197.

 * As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,— Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
 * Line 189.

 * Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the busy whisper circling round Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd. Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declar'd how much he knew, 'T was certain he could write and cipher too.
 * Line 199.

 * In arguing too, the parson owned his skill, For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still; While words of learned length, and thundering sound Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, That one small head could carry all he knew.
 * Line 211.

 * Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round.
 * Line 223.

 * The whitewashed wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnished clock that clicked behind the door; The chest contrived a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day.
 * Line 227.

 * The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.
 * Line 232.

 * To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm, than all the gloss of art.
 * Line 253.

 * And, ev'n while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy.
 * Line 263.

 * Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.
 * Line 329.

 * Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go, Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.
 * Line 344.

 * In all the silent manliness of grief.
 * Line 384.

 * O Luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree!
 * Line 385.

 * Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so.
 * Line 413.

Act I

 * In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach.

 * I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.

 * The very pink of perfection.

 * The genteel thing is the genteel thing any time, if as be that a gentleman bees in a concatenation accordingly.

 * Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain, With grammar, and nonsense, and learning; Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives genus a better discerning.

 * I'll be with you in the squeezing of a lemon.

Act II

 * A modest woman, dressed out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.

 * The first blow is half the battle.

 * We are the boys That fear no noise Where the thundering cannons roar.

 * They liked the book the better the more it made them cry.

 * Travellers, George, must pay in all places: the only difference is, that in good inns, you pay dearly for your luxuries, and in bad inns you are fleeced and starved.

Act III

 * Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs.

 * Oh sir! I must not tell my age. They say women and music should never be dated.

Act IV

 * Baw! Damme, but I'll fight you both, one after the other! With baskets.

 * We modest Gentlemen don't want for much success among the women.

Retaliation (1774)

 * Our Garrick's a salad; for in him we see Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!
 * Line 11.

 * Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.
 * Line 24.

 * Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much; Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind; Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote. Who too deep for his hearers still went on refining, And thought of convincing while they thought of dining: Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.
 * Line 29.

 * His conduct still right, with his argument wrong.
 * Line 46.

 * A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.
 * Line 63.

 * Here lies David Garrick, describe me, who can, An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man.
 * Line 93.

 * As a wit, if not first, in the very first line.
 * Line 96.

 * On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting; 'Twas only that when he was off he was acting.
 * Line 101.

 * He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack, For he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.
 * Line 107.

 * Who peppered the highest was surest to please.
 * Line 112.

 * When he talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff, He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff.
 * Line 145.

 * The best-humour'd man, with the worst-humour'd Muse.
 * Postscript.

title: Oliver Goldsmith


text:
Wikiquote:Policies and guidelines

Wikiquote is a collaborative project and its founders and contributors have a common goal:

 * Our goal with Wikiquote is to create a free compendium of quotations--indeed, the largest compendium of quotations in history, in both breadth and depth. We also want Wikiquote to become a reliable resource .

Wikiquote has some policies and guidelines that are generally accepted and considered important, or even essential, by the project's founders and participants. These help us to work towards our goal. It is important to note that at least some of these policies are still evolving, as Wikiquote grows and develops. Some others, however, have now long been settled and are not regarded as controversial by the vast majority of Wikiquote contributors.

Generally accepted policies

 * Don't infringe copyrights. Wikiquote is a free compendium licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License and the GNU Free Documentation License. Submitting work without the copyright holder's permission threatens our objective to build a truly free compendium of quotations that anyone can redistribute, and could lead to legal liability for the project. See Copyrights for more information.
 * Wikiquote is a compendium of quotations. The site should primarily be used for developing the compendium. In particular, discussions on talk pages should be directed at improving entries. See What Wikiquote is not.
 * Respect other contributors. Wikiquote contributors come from many countries and cultures, and have widely different views. By treating others with respect we are able to cooperate effectively in building a compendium of quotations. For some guidelines, see Etiquette.
 * Follow conventions. By following these conventions we are able to produce a more consistent and usable compendium of quotations:
 * Editing policy (How to edit articles)
 * Naming conventions (How to title articles)
 * Disambiguation (How to resolve title conflicts)
 * Image use policy (Handling uploads)
 * Deletion policy (When and how to delete)
 * Neutral point of view

For policies on using some restricted features, see Administrators.

The policies of Wikiquote's sister project, Wikipedia, usually apply equally well to Wikiquote. In addition, most of them are more mature and hence more polished than Wikiquote's policies, which are still in the process of being developed. Where not specified in Wikiquote, use Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines and linked articles.

While a Wikiquote version of the page has yet to be written, Wikipedia's "Avoiding common mistakes" page contains some useful information for newcomers.

How are these policies enforced?
You are a Wikiquote editor. Wikiquote lacks an editor-in-chief or a central, top-down mechanism whereby the day-to-day progress on the compendium is monitored and approved. Instead, active participants monitor recent changes and make copyedits and corrections to the content and format problems they see. So the participants are both writers and editors.

In extreme and unusual cases, Jimmy Wales has stepped in to ban a user who has proven to be unusually disruptive. Jimbo has also declared certain policies to be, essentially, official Wikiquote policies; see this Wikien-l post and User:Jimbo Wales/Statement of principles.

How policy has been formulated
Wikiquote policy is formulated for the most part by habit and consensus. Hence, the statements on this page and pages adjoining it are intended for the most part to be descriptive of existing community norms that have developed over time. Discussion pages including Village pump and numerous talk pages of articles and documents incubate our policies and guidelines. Issues are still formulated and debated on talk pages.

Behavior policies

 * Username policy
 * Blocking policy

Content guidelines

 * Quotability guideline
 * Sourced and Unsourced sections guideline

Other policies

 * Bots policy

Style manuals

 * Manual of style
 * Templates includes formatting suggestions and recommendations for several genres

Policies and guidelines from Wikipedia
In addition to the generally accepted Wikiquote policies and guidelines listed above, policies and guidelines from the Wikipedia project usually apply equally well to Wikiquote. The following guidelines have been suggested by various participants in the Wikipedia project:

General guidelines

 * Be bold in updating pages
 * Make omissions explicit - While this policy has been rejected on Wikipedia, it is important for Wikiquote, as many "misquoted" quotes still should be included, to serve the purpose of clarifying the common misunderstanding.
 * Ignore all rules - A philosophically important, but still controversial policy.

Behavior guidelines

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 * Log in before making drastic changes to existing articles - Once again, a policy which has not received consensus on Wikipedia, but is still important to Wikiquote.
 * Don't create articles about yourself

Content guidelines

 * Explain jargon
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 * Deal appropriately with patent nonsense
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 * Make entries useful for readers
 * Check your facts
 * Guide to writing better articles
 * Summarize discussion, when the discussion is at a stage where it can be summarized.
 * Make only links relevant to the context
 * External links
 * Avoid peacock terms
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 * Pay attention to spelling
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 * Line breaks
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 * Build the web

Draft Wikiquote policies and guidelines
Please participate in improving these Wikiquote policies and guidelines.

Behavior guidelines

 * No personal attacks - And please, move personal debates to email.
 * Please do not bite the newcomers

Content guidelines

 * Citing sources

title: Wikiquote:Policies and guidelines


text:
Beaumont and Fletcher

Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I. Their collaboration was so well regarded that works individually authored by either are sometimes errantly reported as having been by the collaboration. These include later collaborations by Fletcher with Nathan Field and Philip Massinger.

Quotes

 * It is always good When a man has two irons in the fire.
 * The Faithful Friends (c. 1608), Act I, scene 2.

 * Of every noble action the intent Is to give worth reward, vice punishment.
 * The Captain (c. 1609–12; published 1647), Act V, scene 5.

 * As cold as cucumbers.
 * Cupid's Revenge (1615), Act I, scene 1.

 * Calamity is man's true touchstone.
 * Four Plays in One (c. 1608–13; published 1647), scene 1, The Triumph of Honour, line 67.

 * Silken rest Tie all thy cares up!
 * Four Plays in One (c. 1608–13; published 1647), scene 4, The Triumph of Love, line 67.

 * You are no better than you should be.
 * The Coxcomb (c. 1608–10; 1647), Act IV, scene 3.

 * I care not two-pence.
 * The Coxcomb (c. 1608–10; 1647), Act IV, scene 3.

 * To have been happy, madame, adds to calamity.
 * The Fair Maid of the Inn(licensed 22 January 1626; 1647), Act I, scene 1, line 250.

The Maid's Tragedy (c. 1609; published 1619)

 * Upon my buried body lie lightly, gentle earth.
 * Act I, scene 2.

 * Then, my good girls, be more than women, wise: At least be more than I was; and be sure You credit anything the light gives life to Before a man.
 * Act II, scene 2.

 * A soul as white as Heaven.
 * Act IV, scene 1.

 * But they that are above Have ends in everything.
 * Act V, scene 4.

Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding (c. 1609; printed 1629)

 * After supper walk a mile.
 * Act II, scene 4.

 * Nature too unkind; That made no medicine for a troubled mind!
 * Act III, scene 1.

 * Philaster: Oh, but thou dost not know What 'tis to die. Bellario: Yes, I do know, my lord: 'Tis Less than to be born, a lasting sleep; A quiet resting from all jealousy A thing we all pursue; I know, besides, 'Tis but a giving over of a game That must be lost.
 * Act III scene 2.

 * Make my breast Transparent as pure crystal, that the world, Jealous of me, may see the foulest thought My heart holds.
 * Act III, scene 2, line 144. These lines are used almost unaltered ("holds" becoming "does hold") by George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham in Act III, scene ii of his The Restauration, an adaptation of Philaster. They appear with an attribution to Buckingham in many 19th century collections of quotations, e.g. Henry George Bohn A Dictionary of Quotations from the English Poets (1867) p. 63, and hence also on several quotation websites.

 * The devil take the hindmost!
 * Act V.

 * 'Tis not a life, 'Tis but a piece of childhood thrown away.
 * Act V, scene 2, line 15.

 * All your better deeds Shall be in water writ, but this in marble.
 * Act V, scene 3.

A King and No King (1611; published 1619)

 * It shew'd discretion, the best part of valor.
 * Act IV, scene 3.

 * But is there nothing else, That we may do but only walk? Methinks, Brothers and sisters lawfully may kiss.
 * Act IV, scene 4.

 * He shall have chariots easier than air, That I will have invented;... And thyself, That art the messenger, shalt ride before him On a horse cut out of an entire diamond. That shall be made to go with golden wheels, I know not how yet.
 * Act V.

 * There is a method in man's wickedness— It grows up by degrees.
 * Act V, scene 4.

Love's Cure (c. 1612–13; revised c. 1625; published 1647)

 * Hit the nail on the head.
 * Act II, scene 1.

 * Thou will scarce be a man before thy mother.
 * Act II, scene 2.

 * I find the medicine worse than the malady.
 * Act III, scene 2. Compare: "The remedy is worse than the disease", Francis Bacon, Of Seditions.

 * What's one man's poison, signor, Is another's meat or drink.
 * Act III, scene 2.

 * He went away with a flea in 's ear.
 * Act III, scene 3.

The Scornful Lady (c. 1613; printed 1616)

 * It would talk,— Lord! how it talked!
 * Act V, Scene 1. Compare: "Then he will talk—good gods! how he will talk!" Nathaniel Lee, The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great (1677), Act I, scene 3.

 * Kiss till the cow comes home.
 * Act III, scene 1.

 * My dancing days are done.
 * Act V, scene 3.

 * Beggars must be no choosers.
 * Act V, scene 3.

title: Beaumont and Fletcher


text:
Alfred (opera)

Alfred (1740) is a masque written by David Mallet and James Thomson. The masque is about Alfred the Great, and was first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales, on 1 August 1740, to commemorate the accession of George I and the birthday of the Princess Augusta. It was the vehicle for the British patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!".

Quotes

 * Who has not known ill fortune, never knew Himself, or his own virtue.
 * Act I, Scene I.

 * What proves the hero truly great, Is never, never to despair.
 * Act I, Scene III.

 * Rule Britannia, rule the waves: Britons never will be slaves.
 * Act II, Scene X.

title: Alfred (opera)


text:
Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel (1562 – October 14, 1619) was an English poet and historian.

Quotes

 * W. Guerney Benham, A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words (1914), pp. 104–105

 * And you shall find the greatest enemy A man can have is his prosperity.
 * Philotas—Tragedy. Dedication, l. 13

 * But years hath done this wrong, To make me write too much, and live too long.
 * Philotas—Tragedy. Dedication, l. 106

 * Folly in youth is sin, in age 'tis madness.
 * The Tragedy of Cleopatra, Act 3, 2

 * For 'tis some ease our sorrows to reveal, If they to whom we shall impart our woes, Seem but to feel a part of what we feel, And meet us with a sigh, but at the close.
 * The Tragedy of Cleopatra, Act 4, 1

 * Princes in this case Do hate the traitor, though they love the treason.
 * The Tragedy of Cleopatra, Act 4, 1

 * The absent danger greater still appears; Less fears he who is near the thing he fears.
 * The Tragedy of Cleopatra, Act 4, 1

 * Pity is sworn servant unto love; And thus be sure, wherever it begin To make the way, it lets the master in.
 * The Queen's Arcadia—Comedy. Act 3, 1

 * Man is a creature of a wilful head, And hardly driven is, but eas'ly led.
 * The Queen's Arcadia—Comedy. Act 4, 5

 * Ah! 'tis the silent rhetoric of a look, That works the league betwixt the states of hearts.
 * The Queen's Arcadia—Comedy. Act 5, 2

 * To spend the time luxuriously Becomes not men of worth.
 * "Ulysses and the Siren", Certain Small Poems (1605)
 * Compare: Homer, Odyssey, XII, 184

 * Love is a sickness full of woes, All remedies refusing; A plant that with most cutting grows,  Most barren with best using.        Why so? More we enjoy it, more it dies; If not enjoy’d, it sighing cries—        Heigh ho!Love is a torment of the mind,  A tempest everlasting; And Jove hath made it of a kind  Not well, nor full nor fasting.        Why so? More we enjoy it, &c.
 * Hymen’s Triumph (1614)

Delia and The Complaint of Rosamond (1592)

 * Francis Turner Palgrave, The Golden Treasury (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, n.d.), p. 31
 * Delia. Contayning certayne Sonnets: vvith the complaint of Rosamond (London: I. C. for Simon Waterson, 1592)

 * Sacred on earth; designed a saint above!
 * Delia, Sonnet 6

 * The fairest flower that ever saw the light.
 * Men do not weigh the stalk for what it was, When once they find her flow’r, her glory, pass.
 * Delia, Sonnet 32 (35)
 * 1592 & 1594 eds.: "that" for "what"

 * I that have loved thee thus before thou fadest, My faith shall wax, when thou art in thy waning. The world shall find this miracle in me, That fire can burn when all the matter's spent.
 * Thou may’st repent that thou hast scorn’d my tears, When Winter snows upon thy sable hairs.
 * Delia, Sonnet 33 (36)
 * 1592 & 1594 eds.: "golden" for "sable"

 * For women grieve to think they must be old.
 * Delia, Sonnet 42 (45)
 * 1592 & 1594 eds.: "And" for "For"

 * And sport, sweet maid, in season of these years, And learn to gather flowers before they wither
 * Delia, Sonnet 43 (?)
 * 1592 ed.: "Ah sport" for "And sport"

 * Care-Charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night, Brother to Death, in silent darkness born, Relieve my languish, and restore the light; With dark forgetting of my care return. And let the day be time enough to mourn The shipwreck of my ill adventured youth
 * Delia, Sonnet 45 (49)

 * Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night, Brother to Death, in silent darkness born.
 * Delia, Sonnet 48. See John Fletcher: "Care-charming sleep, ..."

 * But her will must be obeyed,
 * Delia, "An Ode".
 * Compare: "She Who Must Be Obeyed", H. Rider Haggard, She (1887)

 * Sweet, silent rhetoric of persuading eyes, Dumb eloquence, whose power doth move the blood More than the words or wisdom of the wise.
 * Complaint of Rosamond, Stanza 19

 * Jewels, orators of Love.
 * Complaint of Rosamond, Stanza 52

 * Shame leaves us by degrees.
 * Complaint of Rosamond, Stanza 64

History of the Civil War (1595)

 * John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * Minions too great argue a King too weak.
 * Book i, Stanza 38

 * When better choices are not to be had, We needs must take the seeming best of bad.
 * Book ii, Stanza 24

 * Might, That makes a title where there is no right.
 * Book ii, Stanza 36

 * The thing possessed is not the thing it seems.
 * Book ii, Stanza 104

 * Who reproves the lame must go upright.
 * Book iii, Stanza 10

 * The bounds once overgone that hold men in, They never stay; but on from bad to worse. Wrongs do not leave off there where they begin, But still beget new mischiefs in their course.
 * Book iv, Stanza 1

 * He hath nothing done that doth not all.
 * Book iv, Stanza 14

 * As that the walls worn thin, permit the mind To look out thorough, and his frailty find. 1
 * Book iv, Stanza 84.
 * Compare: "The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made", Edmund Waller, Verses upon his Divine Poesy

 * Devotion, mother of obedience.
 * Book vi, Stanza 33

 * The stars that have most glory have no rest.
 * Book vi, Stanza 104. See Francis Bacon

Musophilus (1599)

 * John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
 * John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

 * O blessed letters that combine in one All ages past, and make one live with all, By you we do confer with who are gone, And the dead living unto counsel call: By you th'unborn shall have communion Of what we feel, and what doth us befall.
 * lines 181-186

 * Sacred religion! mother of form and fear.
 * Stanza 57

 * And for the few that only lend their ear, That few is all the world.
 * Stanza 97

 * This is the thing that I was born to do.
 * Stanza 100

 * And who (in time) knows whither we may vent The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores This gain of our best glory shall be sent T' enrich unknowing nations with our stores? What worlds in the yet unformed Occident May come refin'd with th' accents that are ours?
 * Stanza 163.
 * Compare: "Westward the course of empire takes its way", George Berkeley, On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America

A Panegyric Congratulatory to the King's Majesty, &c. (1603)

 * A panegyrike congratulatorie to the Kings Maiestie Also certaine epistles, by Samuel Daniel (London: Valentine Simmes for Edward Blount, 1603)
 * John Morris, Selections from the Poetical Works of Samuel Daniel (Bath: Charles Clark, 1855), pp. 28-32

 * For ever by Adversity are wrought The greatest Works of Admiration; And all the Fair Examples of Renown, Out of Distress and Misery are grown.
 * "To Henry Wriothesly, Earl of Southampton"

 * He that of such a height hath built his mind, And rear'd the dwelling of his thoughts so strong, As neither fear nor hope can shake the frame Of his resolved powers; nor all the wind Of vanity or malice pierce to wrong His settled peace, or to disturb the same; What a fair seat hath he, from whence he may The boundless wastes and wilds of man survey? And with how free an eye doth he look down Upon these lower regions of turmoil? Where all the storms of passions mainly beat On flesh and blood: where honour, power, renown, Are only gay afflictions, golden toil; Where greatness stands upon as feeble feet, As frailty doth; and only great doth seem To little minds, who do it so esteem.
 * "To the Lady Margaret, Countess of Cumberland", Stanza 1

 * Unless above himself he can Erect himself, how poor a thing is man!
 * "To the Lady Margaret, Countess of Cumberland", Stanza 12

A Defense of Rhyme

 * Samuel Daniel: A Defence of Ryme, 1603; Thomas Campion: Observations in the Art Of English Poesie, 1602 (E.P. Dutton and Company, 1925)

 * Custom, that is before all law; Nature, that is above all art.

title: Samuel Daniel


text:
Wikiquote:How to edit a page

This page has been adapted from one on the Wikipedia, and still needs further editing, keep this in mind if you are using it for guidance.

Introduction
Wikiquote is a wiki, meaning that anyone can edit with ease any article and have those changes posted immediately. This page is the reference for Wiki markup. You may also want to learn about:

 * How to start a page on Wikiquote
 * Informal tips on Contributing to Wikipedia
 * Editing tasks in general at the Wikipedia:Editing FAQ
 * Preferred layout of your article at Guide to layout
 * Style conventions in the Manual of style
 * General policies in Policies and guidelines
 * Wikipedia:Naming conventions for how to name articles themselves
 * Finally, for a list of all articles about editing Wikipedia, see Category:Wikipedia.

It's very easy to edit a Wiki page. Just click on the "Edit this page" link at the top or bottom (also on the sidebar) of a Wiki page to change the page itself, or click on "Discuss this page" link and then on "Edit this page" to write on the corresponding talk page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that Wiki page.

Then type away, write a short edit summary on the small field below the edit-box and when finished press "Save"! You can also preview your changes before saving if you like. Depending on your system, pressing Enter while the edit box is not active (there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing Save.

Please use a neutral point of view, and please cite your sources so others can check and extend your work.

It is often more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check there, and then paste back into the browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you authored so that you can make changes offline.

Minor edits
When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely, so any "real" change, even if it is a single word, is a major edit. This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism could then be marked as a minor edit, in which case it would stay unnoticed longer. This limitation is another reason to log in.

The wiki markup
In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.

You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox.

Placement of the Table of Contents (TOC)
At the current status of the wiki makup language, at least four headers automatically trigger the TOC in front of the first header (or after introductory sections). Adding anywhere in the page forces a TOC for pages with fewer than four headers. Putting anywhere forces the TOC to disappear.

HTML tables
HTML tables can be quite useful as well. For details on how to use them and discussion about when they are appropriate, see Wikipedia:How to use tables.

title: Wikiquote:How to edit a page


text:
Charles Caleb Colton

Charles Caleb Colton (baptized 11 December 1777 - 28 April 1832) was a British author, clergyman, and art collector.

Lacon (1820)

 * Lacon, Or, Many Things in Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think (Vol. I, 1820; Vol. II, 1822; corrected one volume edition, 1836)

 * Discretion has been termed the better part of valour, and it is more certain, that diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
 * Preface

 * If we can advance any propositions that are both true and new, these are indisputably our own, by right of discovery; and if we can repeat what is old more briefly and brightly than others, this also becomes our own, by right of conquest.
 * Preface

 * We should have a glorious conflagration, if all who cannot put fire into their works would only consent to put their works into the fire.
 * Preface

 * That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he published, if he does not command success, has at least deserved it.
 * Preface

 * With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose; for good books are as scarce as good companions.
 * Preface

 * It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge. Mal-information is more hopeless than non-information; for error is always more busy than ignorance. Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase. Ignorance is contented to stand still with her back to the truth; but error is more presumptuous, and proceeds in the same direction. Ignorance has no light, but error follows a false one. The consequence is, that error, when she retraces her footsteps, has further to go, before she can arrive at the truth, than ignorance.
 * Vol. I; I

 * Great minds had rather deserve contemporaneous applause, without obtaining it, than obtain, without deserving it; if it follow them, it is well, but they will not deviate to follow it. With inferior minds the reverse is observable.
 * Vol. I; VI

 * From the preponderance of talent, we may always infer the soundness and vigour of the commonwealth; but from the preponderance of riches, its dotage and degeneration.
 * Vol. I; VIII

 * Many a man may thank his talent for his rank, but no man has ever been able to return the compliment by thanking his rank for his talent.
 * Vol. I; VIII

 * Cicero observed to a degenerate patrician, "I am the first of my family, but you are the last of yours" And since his time, those who value themselves merely on their ancestry, have been compared to potatoes, all that is good of them is under the ground.
 * Vol. I; VIII

 * The first consideration with a knave, is how to help himself, and the second, how to do it, with an appearance of helping you. Dionysius the tyrant, stripped the statue of Jupiter Olympius, of a robe of massy gold, and substituted a cloak of wool, saying, gold is too cold in winter, and too heavy in summer; — It behoves us to take care of Jupiter
 * Vol. I; X

 * Instead of exhibiting talent in the hope that the world would forgive their eccentricities, they have exhibited only their eccentricities, in the hope that the world would give them credit for talent.
 * Vol. I; XVI

 * Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it; anything but live for it.
 * Vol. I; XXV

 * No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us.
 * Vol. I; XXVI

 * He that sympathizes in all the happiness of others, perhaps himself enjoys the safest happiness.
 * Vol. I; XXXIII

 * "Defendit numerus," is the maxim of the foolish; "Deperdit numerus," of the wise. The fact is, that an honest man will continue to be so, though surrounded on all sides by rogues. The whole world is turned upside down once in twenty-four hours; yet no one thinks of standing upon his head, rather than on his heels. He that can be honest, only because every one else is honest, or good, only because all around him are good, might have continued an angel, if he had been born one, but being a man, he will only add to that number, numberless, who go to hell for the bad things they have done, and for the good things which they intended to do.
 * Vol. I; XXXIV

 * AMBITION is to the mind, what the cap is to the falcon; it blinds us first, and then compels us to tower, by reason of our blindness. But alas, when we are at the summit of a vain ambition, we are also at the depth of real misery. We are placed where time cannot improve, but must impair us; where chance and change cannot befriend, but may betray us; in short, by attaining all we wish, and gaining all we want, we have only reached a pinnacle, where we have nothing to hope, but every thing to fear.
 * Vol I; XXXVII

 * None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.
 * Vol. I; XL

 * Pedantry prides herself on being wrong by rules; while common sense is contented to be right, without them.
 * Vol. I; XLVIII

 * An elegant writer has observed, that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife.
 * Vol. I; LXXI

 * When you have nothing to say, say nothing; a weak defense strengthens your opponent, and silence is less injurious than a bad reply.
 * Vol. I; CLXXXIII

 * We ask advice, but we mean approbation.
 * Vol. I; CXC

 * Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
 * Vol. I; CCXVII

 * Deliberate with caution, but act with decision; and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.
 * Vol. I; CCLXXXIV

 * It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies, seldom safe to venture to instruct, even our friends.
 * Vol. I; CCLXXXVI

 * Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
 * Vol. I; CCCXXII

 * If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; If you would know, and not be known, live in a city.
 * Vol. I; CCCXXXIV

 * This tendency, however, to ascribe an universality of genius to great men, led Dryden to affirm, on the strength of two smart satyrical lines, that Virgil could have written a satire equal to Juvenal. But, with all due deference to Dryden, I conceive it much more manifest, that Juvenal could have written a better epic than Virgil, than that Virgil could have written a satire equal to Juvenal. Juvenal has many passages of the moral sublime far superior to any that can be found in Virgil, who, indeed, seldom attempts a higher flight than the sublime of description. Had Lucan lived, he might have rivalled them both, as he has all the vigour of the one, and time might have furnished him with the taste and elegance of the other.
 * Vol. I; CCCCXII

 * Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.
 * Vol. I; CCCCXXIV

 * To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it; the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary.
 * Vol. I; CCCCXXVII (7th Edition, published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, in 1821)

 * Those illustrious men, who, like torches, have consumed themselves, in order to enlighten others, have often lived unrewarded, and died unlamented. But the tongues of aftertimes have done them justice in one sense, but injustice in another. They have honoured them with their praise, but they have disgraced them with their pity. They pity them forsooth, because they missed of present praise, and temporal emolument; things great indeed to the little, but little to the great.
 * Vol. I; DLXXV

 * A feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation.
 * Vol. II; VIII

 * With the offspring of genius, the law of parturition is reversed; the throes are in the conception, the pleasure in the birth.
 * Vol. II; XVII

 * Pedantry crams our heads with learned lumber, and takes out our brains to make room for it.
 * Vol. II; XX

 * Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution or of a bad memory—of a constitution so treacherously good that it never bends till it breaks; or of a memory that recollects the pleasures of getting intoxicated, but forgets the pains of getting sober.
 * Vol. II; XXXVIII

 * Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship—never.
 * Vol. II; LXXXIII

 * Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.
 * Vol. II; CCXLVIII

 * Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
 * Vol. II; CLXXVIII

title: Charles Caleb Colton


text:
Philip James Bailey

Philip James Bailey (22 April 1816 – 6 September 1902) was an English poet, most famous as the author of Festus.

Festus (1839)

 * Festus (1872 edition) at the Internet Archive · (1889 edition) at Google Books

 * Evil and good are God's right hand and left.
 * Proem

 * Art is man's nature; nature is God's art.
 * Proem

 * Let each man think himself an act of God, His mind a thought, his life a breath of God; And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds, To show the most of Heaven he hath in him.
 * Proem

 * Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths.

 * Any heart turned Godward feels more joy In one short hour of prayer, than e'er was raised By all the feasts of earth since its foundation.

 * I cannot be content with less than heaven; Living, and comprehensive of all life. Thee, universal heaven, celestial all; Thee, sacred seat of intellective time; Field of the soul's best wisdom: home of truth, Star-throned.

 * Men might be better if we better deemed Of them. The worst way to improve the world Is to condemn it.
 * Scene IV, A Mountain; Sunrise. Compare: "The surest plan to make a man / Is to think him so", J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II, ii. St. 9

 * We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. Life's but a means unto an end; that end Beginning, mean, and end to all things, — God. The dead have all the glory of the world.
 * Scene V, A Country Town

 * Who never doubted never half believed Where doubt there truth is—'t is her shadow.
 * Scene V, A Country Town; comparable to Alfred, Lord Tennyson "There lives more faith in honest doubt / Believe me, than in half the creeds."

 * America thou half-brother of the world! With something good and bad of every land.
 * Scene X, Earth's Surface

 * Music tells no truths.
 * Scene XI, A Village Feast

Passions to be roused up: while ruled by men; While all the powers and treasures of a land At beck of the ambitious, wrongs may be Offered, with insult; yea, '''while rights are worth Maintaining; freedom keeping, or life having, So long dread I, the sword shall shine.'''
 * While men are what they are; while they have bad

 * Poets are all who love, who feel great truths, And tell them; and the truth of truths is love.
 * Scene XVI, The Hesperian Sphere

 * The worst men often give the best advice.

 * They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.

But needs it, and may learn.
 * Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life

 * Envy's a coal comes hissing hot from hell.

 * Respect is what we owe; love what we give.

 * Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth.

title: Philip James Bailey


text:
Margaret Fishback

Margaret Fishback (March 10, 1900– September 25, 1985) was an American poet.

Quotes

 * Old man, forswear that dogged rumba Go home and yield to Christian slumba.
 * "Morpheus Among the Night Clubbers," Time for a Quick One (1940), p. 17.

 * Fashion makes the fur fly.
 * "Sisters Under the Skin, or Fashion Makes the Fur Fly," Time for a Quick One (1940), p. 118.

title: Margaret Fishback