Wouldst Quotes
More Wouldst Quotes
wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?
George Herbert— The Size, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Since thou wouldst needs,
Bewitched with some ill charms,
Be buried in those monumental arms:
As we can wish, is, may that earth lie light
Upon thy tender limbs, and so good night.
— To One Married to an Old Man, 1645
Thou must be true thyself,If thou the truth wouldst teach;Thy soul must overflow, if thouAnother's soul would'st reach!It needs the overflow of heartTo give the lips full speech.Think truly, and thy thoughtsShall the world's famine feed;Speak truly, and each word of thineShall be a fruitful seed;Live truly, and thy life shall beA great and noble creed.
horatius bonar— "Be True," from Hymns of Faith and Hope (1867)
When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,And innocence is closing up his eyes,Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,From death to life thou might’st him yet recover.
Michael Drayton— Sonnet: Love's Farewell, lines 11-14.
Believe me, if all those endearing young charmsWhich I gaze on so fondly to-day,Were to change by to-morrow and fleet in my arms,Like fairy gifts fading away.Thou wouldst still be adored as this moment thou art,Let thy loveliness fade as it will,And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart,Would entwine itself verdantly still.
thomas moore— Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms, st. 1.
Be strong to love, O Heart!Love knows not wrong;Didst thou love — creatures even,Life were not long;Didst thou love God in heaven,Thou wouldst be strong!
adelaide anne procter— "Be Strong".
I do not ask, O Lord, that life may beA pleasant road.I do not ask that Thou wouldst take from meAught of its load;
adelaide anne procter— "Per Pacem ad Lucem".
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death, Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme, To take into the air my quiet breath; Now more than ever seems it rich to die, To cease upon the midnight with no pain, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad In such an ecstasy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain To thy high requiem become a sod.
john keats— Stanza 6. (Ode to a Nightingale)
Thou wouldst be loved? then let thy heart From its present pathway part not! Being everything which now thou art, Be nothing which thou art not. So with the world thy gentle ways, Thy grace, thy more than beauty, Shall be an endless theme of praise, And love a simple duty.
edgar allan poe— "To Frances S. Osgood" (1845).
If thou wouldst be implacable, be so with thyself.
john lancaster spalding— p. 76 (Aphorisms and Reflections (1901))
If thou wouldst help others deal with them as though they were what they should be
john lancaster spalding— p. 119 (Aphorisms and Reflections (1901))
If thou wouldst be interesting, keep thy personality in the background, and be great and strong in and through thy subject.
john lancaster spalding— p. 156 (Aphorisms and Reflections (1901))
What thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, Macbeth (1605), Act I, scene 5, line 21.
What, wouldst thou have me turn pelican, and feed thee out of my own vitals?
william congreve— William Congreve, Love for Love, Act II, Scene 1.
I wish I might a rose-bud grow And thou wouldst cull me from the bower, To place me on that breast of snow Where I should bloom a wintry flower.
— Dionysius.
And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! [Jesus son of Mary] did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.
— Original: ?
— The Qur'an, Sura 5:116 (The Dinner Table, ?
Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow, As seek to quench the fire of love with words.
— Act II, scene 7, line 18.
Take me, O my Father, take me! Take me, save me, through Thy Son; That which Thou wouldst have me, make me, Let Thy will in me be done. Long from Thee my footsteps straying, Thorny proved the way I trod; Weary come I now, and praying Take me to Thy love, my God!
— Ray Palmer, p. 158. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
This is the sum of all true righteousness: deal with others as thou wouldst thyself be dealt by. Do nothing to thy neighbor which thou wouldst not have him do to thee hereafter.
— Mahabharata, 5:1517, c. 2nd century CE
Man of the World (for such wouldst thou be called) And art thou proud of that inglorious style?
Edward Young— Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night VIII, line 8.
Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.
— Prince Henry, scene ii
What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
— Shylock, scene i
Didst thou but know the inly touch of love; Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow, As seek to quench the fire of love with words.
— Julia, scene vii
And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! [Jesus son of Mary] did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.
— Original: ?
— The Qur'an (?), Sura 5:116 (The Dinner Table, ?).
wouldst thou know thyself, observe the actions of others. wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart.
friedrich von schiller— Tabulae Votivae (Votive Tablets) (1796), "The Key"; tr. Edgar Alfred Bowring, The Poems of Schiller, Complete (1851)Variant translation:
If you want to know yourself,
Just look how others do it;
If you want to understand others,
Look into your own heart.
wouldst thou bestow some precious gift upon thy fellows, make thyself a noble man.
john lancaster spalding— p. 263 (Aphorisms and Reflections (1901))
wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?
George Herbert— George Herbert, The Church, The Size.
