Robert Southey Quotes - Page 2

Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. As the beams to a house, as the bones to the microcosm of man, so is order to all things.

What will not woman, gentle woman dare; when strong affection stirs her spirit up?

The march of intellect is proceeding at quick time; and if its progress be not accompanied by a corresponding improvement in morals and religion, the faster it proceeds, with the more violence will you be hurried down the road to ruin.

I cannot believe in an eternity of hell. I hope God will forgive me if I err; but in this matter I cannot say, "Lord help my unbelief."

It behooves us always to bear in mind, that while actions are always to be judged by the immutable standard of right and wrong, the judgments which we pass upon men must be qualified by considerations of age, country, station, and other accidental circumstances; and it will then be found that he who is most charitable in his judgment is generally the least unjust.

Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live; Not where I love, but where I am, I die.

Affliction is not sent in vain, young man, from that good God, who chastens whom he loves.

Love is indestructible, Its holy flame forever burneth; From heaven it came, to heaven returneth.

There are three things in speech that ought to be considered before some things are spoken--the manner, the place and the time.

Happy it were for us all if we bore prosperity as well and as wisely as we endure adverse fortune.

Take away love, and not physical nature only, but the heart of the moral world, would be palsied.

In the days of my youth I remembered my God! And He hath not forgotten my age.

Would you who judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, take this rule; whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short; whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that is sin to you; however innocent it may be in itself.

The grave Is but the threshold of eternity.

A stubborn mind conduces as little to wisdom or even to knowledge, as a stubborn temper to happiness

How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures; nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, Breaks the serene of heaven: In full-orbed glory, yonder moon divine Rolls through the dark blue depths; Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night!

Among the poor, the approach of dissolution is usually regarded with a quiet and natural composure, which it is consolatory to contemplate, and which is as far removed from the dead palsy of unbelief as it is from the delirious raptures of fanaticism. Theirs is a true, unhesitating faith, and they are willing to lay down the burden of e weary life, in the sure and certain hope of a blessed immortality.

It is not for man to rest in absolute contentment.

Curses are like young chickens, theyalways come home to roost.

The history of any private family, however humble, could it be fully related for five or six generations, would illustrate the state and progress of society better than the most elaborate dissertation.

Man hath a weary pilgrimage, As through the word he wends; On every stage, from youth to age, Still discontent attends.

Ay! idleness! the rich folks never fail To find some reason why the poor deserve Their miseries.

A house is never perfectly furnished for enjoyment unless there is a child in it rising three years old, and a kitten rising three weeks.

There is no security in a good disposition if the support of good principles--that is to say, of religion, of Christian faith--be wanting. It may be soured by misfortune, it may be corrupted by wealth, it may be blighted by neediness, it may lose all its original brightness, if destitute of that support.

One fault begets another; one crime renders another necessary.