My steps have pressed the flowers,
That to the Muses' bowers
The eternal dews of Helicon have read more

My steps have pressed the flowers,
That to the Muses' bowers
The eternal dews of Helicon have given:
And trod the mountain height,
Where Science, young and bright,
Scans with poetic gaze the midnight-heaven.
Yet have I found no power to vie
With thine, severe necessity!

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed read more

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.

Now we sit close about this taper here
And call in question our necessities.

Now we sit close about this taper here
And call in question our necessities.

It is in these useless and superfluous things that I am rich and
happy.

It is in these useless and superfluous things that I am rich and
happy.

Omission to do what is necessary
Seals a commission to a blank of danger;
And danger, like read more

Omission to do what is necessary
Seals a commission to a blank of danger;
And danger, like an ague, subtly taints
Even then when we sit idly in the sun.

Necessity is stronger far than art.

Necessity is stronger far than art.

So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deed.

So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deed.

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure read more

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow