Great Throughts Treasury

"What is hope? Nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of."

"What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper: Some liken it to climbing up a hill, Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapor: For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill, And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper," To have, when the original is dust, A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust."

"What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow? To view each love one blotted from life's page, And be alone on earth as I am now."

"What makes a regiment of soldiers a more noble object of view than the same mass of mob? Their arms, their dresses, their banners, and the art and artificial symmetry of their position and movements."

"What is the sin which is not Sin in itself? Can circumstance make sin Or virtue?"

"What men call gallantry and gods adultery Is much more common where the climate's sultry."

"What of them is left, to tell Where they lie, and how they fell? Not a stone on their turf, nor a bone in their graves: But they live in the Verse that immortally saves."

"What say you to such a supper with such a woman?"

"What, lost a world, and bade a hero fly? The timid tear in Cleopatra's eye."

"What should I have known or written had I been a quiet, mercantile politician or a lord in waiting? A man must travel, and turmoil, or there is no existence."

"What want these outlaws conquerors should have But History's purchased page to call them great?"

"Whatsoe'er thy birth, Thou wert a beautiful thought and softly bodied forth."

"What's drinking? A mere pause from thinking!"

"When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home, let him combat for that of his neighbors; let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome, and get knocked on the head for his labors. To do good to Mankind is the chivalrous plan, and is always as nobly requited; then battle from Freedom wherever you can, and, if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted."

"When a man gets to despair he knows that all his thinking will never get him out. He will only get out by the sheer creative effort of God. Consequently he is in the right attitude to receive from God that which he cannot gain for himself."

"When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past-- For years fleet away with the wings of the dove-- The dearest remembrance will still be the last, Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of love."

"When all of genius which can perish dies."

"When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls--the World."

"When friendship or love our sympathies move, When truth in a glance should appear, The lips may beguile with a dimple or smile, But the test of affection's a tear."

"When health, affrighted, spreads her rosy wing, And flies with every changing gale of spring."

"When Newton saw an apple fall, he found In that slight startle from his contemplation - 'Tis said (for I'll not answer above ground For any sage's creed or calculation) - A mode of proving that the earth turned round In a most natural whirl called G"

"When Bishop Berkeley said `there was no matter', And proved it - 'twas no matter what he said."

"When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation), sleep, eating and swilling, buttoning and unbuttoning - how much remains of downright existence? The summer of a dormouse."

"When it gets dark enough you can see the stars."

"When people say, "I've told you fifty times," they mean to scold, and very often do; when poets say, "I've written fifty rhymes," they make you dread that they'll recite them too; in gangs of fifty, thieves commit their crimes; at fifty love for love is rare, 't is true, but then, no doubt, it equally as true is, a good deal may be bought for fifty Louis."

"When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it."

"When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it."

"When walking through the valley of shadows, remember, a shadow is cast by a Light."

"When we have what we like 'tis hard to miss it."

"When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better."

"When things are at the worst they sometimes mend."

"When we two parted in silence and tears, half broken-hearted, to sever for years, pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss; truly that hour foretold sorrow to this. The dew of the morning sank chill on my brow— it felt like the warning of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, and light is thy fame: i hear thy name spoken, and share in its shame. They name thee before me, a knell to mine ear; a shudder comes o'er me— why wert thou so dear? They know not i knew thee, who knew thee too well — long, long shall I rue thee too deeply to tell. In secret we met— in silence I grieve that thy heart could forget, thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee after long years, how should I greet thee?— with silence and tears."

"When we think we lead we are most led."

"When Youth and Pleasure meet to chase the glowing Hours with flying feet."

"When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, he sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown."

"When you come to a roadblock, take a detour."

"Whenever I meet with anything agreeable in this world it surprises me so much - and pleases me so much (when my passions are not interested in one way or the other) that I go on wondering for a week to come."

"Where is he, the champion and the child of all that's great or little, wise or wild; whose game was empires, and whose stakes were thrones; whose table earth — whose dice were human bones?"

"Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime!"

"Where is the world?" cries Young, at eighty. "Where The world in which a man was born?" Alas! Where is the world of eight years past? 'Twas there-- I look for it--'tis gone, a globe of glass Cracked, shivered, vanished, scarcely gazed on ere A silent change dissolves the glittering mass. Statesmen, chiefs, orators, queens, patriots, kings, And dandies, all are gone on the wind's wings."

"Where may the wearied eye repose when gazing on the great; where neither guilty glory glows, nor despicable state? Yes — one — the first — the last — the best — the Cincinnatus of the west, whom envy dared not hate, bequeath'd the name of Washington, to make man blush there was but one!"

"Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine, And all, save the spirit of man, is divine?"

"Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil."

"Where'er we tread 'tis haunted, holy ground."

"Which cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires The young, makes Weariness forget his toil, And Fear her danger; opens a new world When this, the present, palls."

"While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls - the World."

"Which makes life itself a lie, Flattering dust with eternity."

"While franklin's quiet memory climbs to heaven, calming the lightning which he thence hath riven, or drawing from the no less kindled earth freedom and peace to that which boasts his birth; while washington's a watchword, such as ne'er shall sink while there's an echo left to air."

"Who could be happy and alone or good?"

"What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little."