Beauty is but a flower,Which wrinkles will devour;Brightness falls from the air;Queens have died young and fair;Dust hath closed Helen's read more

Beauty is but a flower,Which wrinkles will devour;Brightness falls from the air;Queens have died young and fair;Dust hath closed Helen's eye.I am sick, I must die;Lord have mercy on us. - Song in Time of Pestilence.

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.

The great Creator to revereMust sure become the creature;But still the preaching cant forbear,And ev'n the rigid feature:Yet ne'er with read more

The great Creator to revereMust sure become the creature;But still the preaching cant forbear,And ev'n the rigid feature:Yet ne'er with wits profane to rangeBe complaisance extended;An atheist laugh's a poor exchangeFor deity offended. - Epistle to a Young Friend, An.

One learns little more about a man from his feats of literary memory than from the feats of his alimentary read more

One learns little more about a man from his feats of literary memory than from the feats of his alimentary canal.

The universe is made up of stories, not of atoms.

The universe is made up of stories, not of atoms.

This book fills a much-needed gap.

This book fills a much-needed gap.

I can find my biography in every fable that I read.

I can find my biography in every fable that I read.

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.

In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle. Aristocracy isolates us.

In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle. Aristocracy isolates us.