You cannot hammer a girl into anything. She grows as a flower does, she will wither without sun; she will decay in her sheath as a narcissus will if you do not give her air enough; she might fall and defile her head in dust if you leave her without help at some moments in her life; but you cannot fetter her; she must take her own fair form and way if she take any.
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What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
read more
What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
No! grown, his growth lasts; taught, he ne'er forgets;
May learn a thousand things, not twice the same.
Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb;
Keep clean, be read more
Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb;
Keep clean, be as fruit, earn life, and watch,
Till the white-wing'd reapers come.
Gard'ner, for telling me these news of woe,
Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow.
Gard'ner, for telling me these news of woe,
Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow.
Besides that, when elsewhere the harvest of wheat is most
abundant, there it comes up less by one-fourth than read more
Besides that, when elsewhere the harvest of wheat is most
abundant, there it comes up less by one-fourth than what you have
sowed. There, methinks, it were a proper place for men to sow
their wild oats, where they would not spring up.
[Lat., Post id, frumenti quum alibi messis maxima'st
Tribus tantis illi minus reddit, quam obseveris.
Heu! istic oportet obseri mores malos,
Si in obserendo possint interfieri.]
We grow because we struggle, we learn and overcome.
We grow because we struggle, we learn and overcome.
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom.
Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom.
'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.
Our pleasures and our discontents,
Are rounds by which we may ascend.
Our pleasures and our discontents,
Are rounds by which we may ascend.
