Coventry Patmore Quotes - Page 2

Creation differs from subsistence only as the first leap of a fountain differs from its continuance.

Uncommon things must be said in common words, if you would have them to be received in less than a century.

The ardour chills us which we do not share.

I drew my bride, beneath the moon,Across my threshold; happy hour!But, ah, the walk that afternoonWe saw the water-flags in flower!

Ah, whither shall a maiden flee, When a bold youth so swift pursues, And siege of tenderest courtesy, With hope perseverant, still renews!

A moment's fruition of a true felicity is enough and eternity not too much.

If we may credit certain hints contained in the lives of the saints, love raises the spirit above the sphere of reverence and worship into one of laughter and dalliance: a sphere in which the soul says: 'Shall I, a gnat which dances in Thy ray, Dare to be reverent?'

The midge's wing beats to and fro A thousand times ere one can utter O.

All the love and joy that a man has ever received in perception is laid up in him as the sunshine of a hundred years is laid up in the bole of the oak.

Life is not life at all without delight.

Let me love Thee so that the honour, riches, and pleasures of the world may seem unworthy even of hatred - may not even be encumbrances.

Science is a line, art a superficies, and life or the knowledge of God, a solid.

Ah, wasteful woman, she who may On her sweet self set her own price, Knowing man cannot choose but pay, How has she cheapened paradise; How given for nought her priceless gift, How spoiled the bread and spilled the wine, Which, spent with due respective thrift, Had made brutes men and men divine.

None thrives for long upon the happiest dream.

For want of me the world's course will not fail;When all its work is done the lie shall rot;The truth is great and shall prevailWhen none cares whether it prevail or not.

The sunshine dreaming upon Salmon's heightIs not so sweet and whiteAs the most heretofore sin-spotted SoulThat darts to its delightStraight from the absolution of a faithful fight.

All reasoning ends in an appeal to self-evidence.

How light the touches are that kiss the music from the chords of life!