"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a read more

"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a bon mot and a useful desire,
but equally absurd. For to make the handful bigger than the
hand, the armful bigger then the arm, and to hope to stride
further than the stretch of our legs, is impossible and
monstrous. . . . He may lift himself if God lend him His hand of
special grace; he may lift himself . . . by means wholly
celestial. It is for our Christian religion, and not for his
Stoic virtue, to pretend to this divine and miraculous
metamorphosis.

Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.

Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.

The oaks with solemnity shook their heads;
The twigs of the birch-trees, in token
Of warning, nodded,--and read more

The oaks with solemnity shook their heads;
The twigs of the birch-trees, in token
Of warning, nodded,--and I exclaim'd:
"Dear Monarch, forgive what I've spoken!"

The gem cannot be polished without friction, not a man perfected without trials.

The gem cannot be polished without friction, not a man perfected without trials.

'Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd,
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd.

'Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd,
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd.

The oak, when living, monarch of the wood;
The English oak, which, dead, commands the flood.

The oak, when living, monarch of the wood;
The English oak, which, dead, commands the flood.

The tall Oak, towering to the skies,
The fury of the wind defies,
From age to age, read more

The tall Oak, towering to the skies,
The fury of the wind defies,
From age to age, in virtue strong.
Inured to stand, and suffer wrong.

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...

The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees.
Three read more

The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees.
Three centuries he grows, and three he stays
Supreme in state; and in three more decays.