Any fool may write a most valuable book by chance, if he will only tell us what he heard and saw with veracity. Thomas Gray More Quotes by Thomas Gray More Quotes From Thomas Gray How low, how little are the proud, How indigent the great! Thomas Gray proud lows littles Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. Thomas Gray learning wish life He pass'd the flaming bounds of place and time: The living throne, the sapphire blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze, He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Closed his eyes in endless night. Thomas Gray angel eye life When love could teach a monarch to be wise, And gospel-light first dawn'd from Bullen's eyes. Thomas Gray eye wise love Behind the steps that Misery treads Approaching Comfort view: The hues of bliss more brightly glow Chastised by sabler tints of woe, And blended form, with artful strife, The strength and harmony of life. Thomas Gray hue views comfort The meanest flowret of the vale, / The simplest note that swells the gale, / The common sun, the air, and skies, / To him are opening paradise. Thomas Gray paradise air sky One principal characteristic of vice in the present age is the contempt of fame. Thomas Gray vices age fame T'was Spring, t'was Summer, all was gay Now Autumn bears a cloud brow The flowers of Spring are swept way And Summer fruits desert the bough Thomas Gray flower summer spring Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed. Thomas Gray london midnight towers There are certain scenes that would awe an atheist into belief, without the help of other argument. Thomas Gray atheist helping religion For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind? Thomas Gray cheerful anxiety dumb The language of the age is never the language of poetry, except among the French, whose verse, where the thought or image does not support it, differs in nothing from prose. Thomas Gray support age doe Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate, Beneath the good how far,-but far above the great. Thomas Gray vulgar fate limits And moody madness laughing wild Amid severest woe. Thomas Gray woe laughter laughing Chill penury repress'd their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul. Thomas Gray poverty noble soul Ah, tell them they are men! Thomas Gray men And truth severe, by fairy fiction drest. Thomas Gray fairy truth fiction Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. Thomas Gray cells sleep death Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor. Thomas Gray simplicity poor simple Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, Heaven did a recompense as largely send: He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear, He gained from Heav'n ('t was all he wish'd) a friend. Thomas Gray soul friendship heaven
