Methought little space 'tween those hills intervened, But nearer,--more lofty,--more shaggy they seemed. The clouds o'er their summits they calmly did rest, And hung on the ether's invisible breast; Than the vapours of earth they seemed purer, more bright,-- Oh! could they be clouds? 'Twas the necklace of night.

The measure of a man is not the number of servants he has, but the number of people he serves.

If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet. A majority by definition, society thinks of itself as having other options than reading verses, no matter how well written. Its failure to do so results in its sinking to that level of locution at which society falls easy prey to a demagogue or a tyrant. This is society's own equivalent of oblivion.

Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves.

He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.

A pioneer is generally a man who has outlived his credit or fortune in the cultivated parts.

Sex should be friendly. Otherwise stick to mechanical toys; it's more sanitary.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

A slight touch of friendly malice and amusement towards those we love keeps our affections for them from turning flat.

No one can be so welcome a guest that he will not become an annoyance when he has stayed three continuous days in a friend's house.

Anyone can believe that Jesus was a god: what is so hard to credit is that He who hung upon the cross was the God. That is what you are asked as Christians to believe. And it is the sword, glittering but fearful. It must cut your life away from the standards of this world, away from its thought and its measures, no less than its aims and hopes. Hard and bitter is the separation, and you will be parted from many great and noble men, some perhaps your own teachers, who can accept about Jesus everything but the one thing needful. The Christian faith, if accepted, drives a wedge between its own adherents and the disciples of every other philosophy or religion, however lofty or soaring. And they will not see this; they will tell you that really your views and theirs are the same thing, and only differ in words, which, if only you were a little more highly trained, you would understand. Even among Christ's nominal servants there are many who think a little good-will is all that is needed to bridge the gulf -- a little amiability and mutual explanation, a more careful use of phrases, would soon accommodate Christianity to fashionable modes of speaking and thinking, and destroy all causes of provocation. So they would. But they would destroy also its one inalienable attraction: that of being... a wonder, and a beauty, and a terror -- no dull and drab system of thought, no mere symbolic idealism.

Mechanical difficulties with language are the outcome of internal difficulties with thought.

We can help others in the world more by making the most of yourself than in any other way.

Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it.

I love little children too but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases. http://www.egroups.com/messages/nomow108/1.

We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.

Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.

Party honesty is party expediency.

The rising world of waters dark and deep.