Great Throughts Treasury

"From his brimstone bed, at break of day, a-walking the Devil is gone, to look at his little, snug farm of the World, and see how his stock went on."

"From its fountains in the mountains, its rills and its gills; through moss and through brake, it runs and it creeps for a while, till it sleeps in its own little lake."

"From what I have observed, and what I have heard those persons say whose professions lead them to the dying, I am induced to infer that the fear of death is not common, and that where it exists it proceeds rather from a diseased and enfeebled mind than from any principle in our nature. Certain it is that among the poor the approach of dissolution is usually regarded with a quiet and natural composure which it is consolatory to contemplate, and which is as far removed from the dead palsy of unbelief as it is from the delirious raptures of fanaticism. Theirs is a true, unhesitating faith, and they are willing to lay down the burden of a weary life, ?in the sure and certain hope? of a blessed immortality."

"Give me a room whose every nook is dedicated to a book"

"Go, little Book! From this my solitude I cast thee on the Waters, ? go thy ways: And if, as I believe, thy vein be good, The World will find thee after many days. Be it with thee according to thy worth: Go, little Book; in faith I send thee forth."

"Great news! bloody news! cried a newsman; the Devil said, Stop, let me see! Great news? bloody news? thought the Devil; the bloodier the better for me."

"Green moss shines there with ice encased; The long grass bends its spear-like form; And lovely is the silvery scene When faint the sun-beams smile."

"Happy it were for us all if we bore prosperity as well and as wisely as we endure adverse fortune."

"Happy those Who in the after-days shall live, when Time Hath spoken, and the multitude of years Taught wisdom to mankind!"

"He came to ask what he had found, that was so large, and smooth, and round."

"He passed a cottage with a double coach-house, a cottage of gentility; and he owned with a grin that his favorite sin is pride that apes humility."

"He who never relaxes into sportiveness is a wearisome companion; but beware of him who jests at everything! Such men disparage, by some ludicrous association, all objects which are presented to their thoughts, and thereby render themselves incapable of any emotion which can either elevate or soften them: they bring upon their moral being an influence more withering than the blasts of the deserts."

"He whose heart is not excited upon the spot which a martyr has sanctified by his sufferings, or at the grave of one who has largely benefited mankind, must be more inferior to the multitude in his moral, than he can possibly be raised above them in his intellectual nature."

"His sweetest dreams were still of that dear voice that soothed his infancy."

"How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; no mist obscures; nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, breaks the serene of heaven: in full-orbed glory, yonder moon divine rolls through the dark blue depths; beneath her steady ray the desert circle spreads like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night!"

"How does the water come down at Lodore?"

"How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty judgments upon that which seems."

"How, then, was the Devil dressed? Oh! he was in his Sunday's best; his coat was red, and his breeches were blue, and there was a hole where his tail came through."

"I am cheerful, young man,' Father William replied; 'Let the cause thy attention engage; In the days of my youth I remembered my God, And He hath not forgotten my age."

"I can remember, with unsteady feet, Tottering from room to room, and finding pleasure In flowers, and toys, and sweetmeats, things which long Have lost their power to please; which when I see them, Raise only now a melancholy wish I were the little trifler once again, Who could be pleas'd so lightly."

"I have heard a good story of Charles Fox. When his house was on fire, he found all efforts to save it useless, and, being a good draughtsman, he went up to the next hill to make a drawing of the fire, ? the best instance of philosophy I ever heard of."

"I have told you of the Spaniard who always put on his spectacles when about to eat cherries, that they might look bigger and more attempting. In like manner I made the most of my enjoyment s: and through I do not cast my cares away, I pack them in as little compass as I can, and carry them as conveniently as I can for myself, and never let them annoy others."

"If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn."

"In his will [John Wesley] directed that six poor men should have twenty shillings each for carrying his body to the grave; ?for I particularly desire,? said he, ?that there may be no hearse, no coach, no escutcheon, no pomp except the tears of them that loved me and are following me to Abraham?s bosom. I solemnly adjure my executors, in the name of God, punctually to observe this.? At the desire of many of his friends, his body was carried into the chapel the day preceding the interment, and there lay in a kind of state becoming the person, dressed in his clerical habit, with gown, cassock, and band; the old clerical cap on his head; a Bible in one hand, and a white handkerchief in the other. The face was placid, and the expression which death had fixed upon his venerable features was that of a serene and heavenly smile. The crowds who flocked to see him were so great that it was thought prudent, for fear of accidents, to accelerate the funeral and perform it between five and six in the morning. The intelligence, however, could not be kept entirely secret, and several hundred persons attended at that unusual hour. Mr. Richardson, who performed the service, had been one of his preachers almost thirty years. When he came to that part of the service, ?Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother,? his voice changed, and he substituted the word father; and the feeling with which he did this was such that the congregation, who were shedding silent tears, burst at once into loud weeping."

"In the days of my youth I remembered my God! And He hath not forgotten my age."

"It behooves us always to bear in mind, that while actions are always to be judged by the immutable standard of right and wrong, the judgments which we pass upon men must be qualified by considerations of age, country, station, and other accidental circumstances; and it will then be found that he who is most charitable in his judgment is generally the least unjust."

"It has been more wittily than charitably said that hell is paved with good intentions; they have their place in heaven also."

"It is only our mortal duration that we measure by visible and measurable objects; and there is nothing mournful in the contemplation for one who knows that the Creator made him to be the image of his own eternity, and who feels that in the desire for immortality he has sure proof of his capacity for it."

"It is not in the heyday of health and enjoyment, it is not in the morning sunshine of his vernal day, that man can be expected feelingly to remember his latter end, and to fix his heart upon eternity. But in after-life many causes operate to wean us from the world: grief softens the heart; sickness searches it; the blossoms of hope are shed; death cuts down the flowers of the affections; the disappointed man turns his thoughts toward a state of existence where his wiser desires may be fixed with the certainty of faith; the successful man feels that the objects which he has ardently pursued fail to satisfy the cravings of an immortal spirit; the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, that he may save his soul alive."

"It is certain that all the evils in society arise from want of faith in God, and of obedience to His laws; and it is no less certain that by the prevalence of a lively and efficient belief they would all be cured. If Christians in any country, yea, if any collected body of them, were what they might, and ought, and are commanded to be, the universal reception of the gospel would follow as a natural and a promised result. And in a world of Christians, the extinction of physical evil might be looked for, if moral evil, that is, in Christian language, sin, were removed."

"It is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn."

"It runs through the reeds, and away it proceeds, through meadow and glade, in sun and in shade, and through the wood-shelter, among crags in its flurry, helter-skelter, hurry-skurry."

"It was a goodly sight to see the embattled pomp, as with the step of stateliness the barbed steeds came on, to see the pennons rolling their long waves before the gale, and banners, broad and bright, tossing their blazonry."

"It was a summer evening, old Kaspar's work was done, and he before his cottage door was sitting in the sun, and by him sported on the green his little grandchild Wilhelmine."

"It would please you to see such a display of literary wealth which is at once the pride of my eye, and the joy of my heart, and the food of my mind; indeed, more than metaphorically meat, drink, and clothing, to me and mine. I believe that no one in my station was ever so rich before, and I am sure that no one in my station had ever a more thorough enjoyment of riches of any kind, or in any way. It is more delightful for me to live with books than with men, even with all the relish which I have for such society as is worth having."

"Let no man write my epitaph; let my grave Be uninscribed, and let my memory rest Till other times are come, and other men, Who then may do me justice."

"Let us depart! the universal sun Confines not to one land his blessed beams; Nor is man rooted, like a tree, whose seed The winds on some ungenial soil have cast There, where it cannot prosper."

"Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be."

"Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life. They appear so while they are passing; they seem to have been so when we look back on them; and they take up more room in our memory than all the years that succeed them."

"Love is indestructible. It's holy flame forever burneth; from Heaven it came, to Heaven returneth."

"Make the abhorrent eye Roll back and close."

"Midnight, and yet no eye Through all the Imperial City closed in sleep."

"Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray, Each in the other melting."

"My days among the Dead are past; around me I behold, where'er these casual eyes are cast, the mighty minds of old; my never-failing friends are they, with whom I converse day by day."

"My name is Death: the last best friend am I."

"My notions about life are much the same as they are about travelling; there is a good deal of amusement on the road, but, after all, one wants to be at rest."

"My notions of life are much the same as they are about traveling; there is a good deal of amusement on the road; but, after all, one wants to be at rest."

"Nor let it be supposed that terrors of imagination belong to childhood alone. The reprobate heart, which has discarded all love of God, cannot so easily rid itself of the fear of the devil; and even when it succeeds in that also, it will then create a hell for itself. We have heard of unbelievers who thought it probable that they should be awake in their graves: and this was the opinion for which they had exchanged a Christian?s hope of immortality!"

"Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live Not where I love, but where I am, I die."

"Now, motionless and dark, eluded search Self-shrouded: and anon, starring the sky, Rose like a shower of fire."