For fools admire, but me of sense approve.

For fools admire, but me of sense approve.

The best emotions to write out of are anger and fear or dread. . . . The least energizing emotion read more

The best emotions to write out of are anger and fear or dread. . . . The least energizing emotion to write out of is admiration . . . because the basic feeling that goes with admiration is a passive contemplative mood.

Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt.

Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt.

The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.

The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.

Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear. . . .

Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear. . . .

Admiration and familiarity are strangers.

Admiration and familiarity are strangers.

"Not to admire, is all the art I know
(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)
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"Not to admire, is all the art I know
(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)
To make men happy, or to keep them so."
(So take it in the very words of Creech)
Thus Horace wrote we all know long ago;
And thus Pope quotes the precept to re-teach
From his translation; but had none admired,
Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired?

The king himself has follow'd her
When she has walk'd before.

The king himself has follow'd her
When she has walk'd before.

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed read more

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.