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 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. 
 Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
 Thus unlamented let me die;
  Steal from the world, and not read more 
 Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
 Thus unlamented let me die;
  Steal from the world, and not a stone
   Tell where I lie. 
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. 
 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. 
 She dwelt among the untrodden ways
 Beside the springs of Dove,
  A maid whom there were none read more 
 She dwelt among the untrodden ways
 Beside the springs of Dove,
  A maid whom there were none to praise
   And very few to love. 
 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.] 
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.
Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval.
Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval.