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.

He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well.
[Lat., Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]

He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well.
[Lat., Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]

Yet was he but a squire of low degree.

Yet was he but a squire of low degree.

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.

How often the highest talent lurks in obscurity.
[Lat., Ut saepe summa ingenia in occulto latent!]

How often the highest talent lurks in obscurity.
[Lat., Ut saepe summa ingenia in occulto latent!]

I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
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I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
I want to be forgotten even by God.

Obscurity and competence: That is the life that is worth living.

Obscurity and competence: That is the life that is worth living.

Some write their wrongs in marble: he more just,
Stoop'd down serene and wrote them on the dust,
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Some write their wrongs in marble: he more just,
Stoop'd down serene and wrote them on the dust,
Trod under foot, the sport of every wind,
Swept from the earth and blotted from his mind,
There, secret in the grave, he bade them lie,
And grieved they could not 'scape the Almighty eye.