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Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Yet was he but a squire of low degree.
Yet was he but a squire of low degree.
He shone with the greater splendor, because he was not seen.
[Lat., Eo magis praefulgebat quod non videbatur.]
He shone with the greater splendor, because he was not seen.
[Lat., Eo magis praefulgebat quod non videbatur.]
As night the life-inclining stars best shows,
So lives obscure the starriest souls disclose.
As night the life-inclining stars best shows,
So lives obscure the starriest souls disclose.
It is better to be famous than notorious, but better to be notorious than obscure.
It is better to be famous than notorious, but better to be notorious than obscure.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.
Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.
