Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.

Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.

O may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made read more

O may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self.
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge man's search
To vaster issues.

My heart is feminine, nor can forget--
To all, except one image, madly blind;
So shakes the read more

My heart is feminine, nor can forget--
To all, except one image, madly blind;
So shakes the needle, and so stands the pole,
As vibrates my fond heart to my fix'd soul.

Even here Thy strong magnetic charms I feel,
And pant and tremble like the amorous steel.
To read more

Even here Thy strong magnetic charms I feel,
And pant and tremble like the amorous steel.
To lower good, and beauties less divine,
Sometimes my erroneous needle does incline;
But yet (so strong the sympathy)
It turns, and points again to Thee.

God in making man intended by him to reduce all His Works back
again to Himself.

God in making man intended by him to reduce all His Works back
again to Himself.

It is easier to influence strong than weak characters in life.

It is easier to influence strong than weak characters in life.

If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power
carries me off in read more

If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power
carries me off in spite of myself; love leads me one way, my
understanding another.
[Lat., Si possem sanior essem.
Sed trahit invitam nova vis; aliudque Cupido,
Mens aliud.]

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced read more

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.