My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them. Walter Savage Landor More Quotes by Walter Savage Landor More Quotes From Walter Savage Landor Dignity, in private men and in governments, has been little else than a stately and stiff perseverance in oppression; and spirit, as it is called, little else than the foam of hard-mouthed insolence. Walter Savage Landor perseverance littles men How delightful it is to see a friend after a length of absence! How delightful to chide him for that length of absence to which we owe such delight. Walter Savage Landor delight friends absence Other offences, even the greatest, are the violation of one law: despotism is the violation of all. Walter Savage Landor violation despotism law To my ninth decade I have totter'd on, And no soft arm bends now my steps to steady; She, who once led me where she would, is gone, So when he calls me, Death shall find me ready. Walter Savage Landor arms gone steps It is as wise to moderate our belief as our desires. Walter Savage Landor belief wise desire The happy never say, and never hear said, farewell. Walter Savage Landor farewell said There is a gravity which is not austere nor captious, which belongs not to melancholy nor dwells in contraction of heart: but arises from tenderness and hangs upon reflection. Walter Savage Landor melancholy reflection heart God made the rose out of what was left of woman at the creation. The great difference is, we feel the rose's thorns when we gather it; and the other's when we have had it for some time. Walter Savage Landor thorns differences rose Children are what the mothers are. Walter Savage Landor mother children Of all studies, the most delightful and the most useful is biography. The seeds of great events lie near the surface; historians delve too deep for them. No history was ever true. Lives I have read which, if they were not, had the appearance, the interest, and the utility of truth. Walter Savage Landor true-life biographies lying What is companionship where nothing that improves the intellect is communicated, and where the larger heart contracts itself to the model and dimension of the smaller? Walter Savage Landor companionship dimensions heart Why cannot we be delighted with an author, and even feel a predilection for him, without a dislike of others? An admiration of Catullus or Virgil, of Tibullus or Ovid, is never to be heightened by a discharge of bile on Horace. Walter Savage Landor discharge admiration feels Fleas know not whether they are upon the body of a giant or upon one of ordinary size. Walter Savage Landor giants body ordinary When we play the fool, how wideThe theatre expands! beside,How long the audience sits before us!How many prompters! what a chorus! Walter Savage Landor theatre play long Around the child bend all the threeSweet Graces: Faith, Hope, Charity.Around the man bend other faces;Pride, Envy, Malice, are his Graces. Walter Savage Landor pride men children The damps of autumn sink into the leaves and prepare them for the necessity of their fall; and thus insensibly are we, as years close around us, detached from our tenacity of life by the gentle pressure of recorded sorrow. Walter Savage Landor autumn years fall But I have sinuous shells of pearly hue Within, and they that lustre have imbibed In the sun's palace-porch, where when unyoked chariot-wheel stands midway in the wave: Shake one, and it awakens; then apply Its polisht lips to your attentive ear, And it remembers its august abodes, And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there. Walter Savage Landor ocean august ears We cannot conquer fate and necessity, yet we can yield to them in such a manner as to be greater than if we could. Walter Savage Landor yield fate acceptance Friendship may sometimes step a few paces in advance of truth. Walter Savage Landor pace steps may He who brings ridicule to bear against truth finds in his hand a blade without a hilt. The most sparkling and pointed flame of wit flickers and expires against the incombustible walls of her sanctuary. Walter Savage Landor wall flames hands
