Matthew Arnold

Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows
Like the wave;
Change doth unknit the tranquil strength read more

Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows
Like the wave;
Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men.
Love tends life a little grace,
A few sad smiles; and then,
Both are laid in one cold place,
In the grave.

Youth dreams a bliss on this side of death.
It dreams a rest, if not more deep,
read more

Youth dreams a bliss on this side of death.
It dreams a rest, if not more deep,
More grateful than this marble sleep;
It hears a voice within it tell:
Calm's not life's crown, though calm is well.
'Tis all perhaps which man acquires,
But 'tis not what our youth desires.

The kings of modern thought are dumb.

The kings of modern thought are dumb.

The pursuit of the perfect, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and
light.

The pursuit of the perfect, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and
light.

The Greek word euphuia, a finely tempered nature, gives exactly
the notion of perfection as culture brings us to read more

The Greek word euphuia, a finely tempered nature, gives exactly
the notion of perfection as culture brings us to perceive it; a
harmonious perfection, a perfection in which the characters of
beauty and intelligence are both present, which unites "the two
noblest of things"--as Swift . . . most happily calls them in his
Battle of the Books, "the two noblest of things, sweetness and
light."