Thomas Gray Quotes - 5
More Thomas Gray Quotes - 5
Ye distant spires, ye antique towers, That crown the wat'ry glade.
Thomas Gray— 1742 Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (published1747), l.1-2.
Still as they run they look behind, They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy.
Thomas Gray— 1742 Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (published1747), l.38-40.
How low, how little are the proud, How indigent the great!
Thomas Gray— 1748 Ode on the Spring, l.19-20.
The insect youth are on the wing, Eager to taste the honeyed spring, And float amid the liquid noon: Some lightly o'er the current skim, Some show their gaily-gilded trim Quick-glancing to the sun.
Thomas Gray— 1748 Ode on the Spring, l.25-30.
But knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.
Thomas Gray— 1751Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, l.49-52.
Ruin seize thee, ruthless King! Confusion on thy banners wait, Tho'fanned by Conquest's crimson wing They mock the air with idle state.
Thomas Gray— 1757 The Bard. A Pindaric Ode, l.1-4.
Thoughts, that breathe, and words, that burn.
Thomas Gray— 1757 The Progress of Poesy, l.110.
Yet, ah! why should they know their fate, Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise.
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, On a Distant Prospect of Eton College.
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune; He had not the method of making a fortune.
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, On his own Character.
Comus and his midnight crew.
Thomas Gray— Ode for Music (1769), line 2.
While bright-eyed Science watches round.
Thomas Gray— Ode for Music (1769), Chorus, line 3.
From toil he wins his spirits light, From busy day the peaceful night; Rich, from the very want of wealth, In heaven's best treasures, peace and health.
Thomas Gray— Line 93. (Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude (1754))
From Helicon's harmonious springs A thousand rills their mazy progress take.
Thomas Gray— I. 1, Line 3.
Ye distant spires, ye antique towers, That crown the wat'ry glade.
Thomas Gray— St. 1. (Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742))
Still as they run they look behind, They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy.
Thomas Gray— St. 4. (Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742))
The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Thomas Gray— Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, stanza 1 (1750)
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.
Thomas Gray— St. 2. (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750))
Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.
Thomas Gray— St. 12. (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750))
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.
Thomas Gray— St. 13. (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750))
One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill, Along the heath, and near his fav'rite tree: Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.
Thomas Gray— St. 28. (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750))
Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth. And Melancholy marked him for her own.
Thomas Gray— The Epitaph, St. 1.
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight, Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
Thomas Gray— III, 1, Line 11.
Hear from the grave, great Taliessin, hear; They breathe a soul to animate thy clay. Bright Rapture calls, and soaring, as she sings, Waves in the eye of Heav'n her many-colour'd wings.
Thomas Gray— III, 2. (The Bard (1757))
Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield: Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke: How jocund did they drive their team a-field! How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 7: Quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), Lemma "Agriculture" p. 18-19.
Loose his beard, and hoary hair Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air.
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, The Bard, I. 2, line 5.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear.
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 14. Original found in a poem by Cardinal Barberini.
Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding sheet of Edward's race; Give ample room and verge enough The characters of Hell to trace.
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, Bard, Canto II.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Thomas Gray— Elegy in a Country Churchyard ("Herd wind" in 1753 ed. "Knell of parting day" taken from Dante).
Lumenque iuventae / purpureum.
Thomas Gray— Cf. Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy, I. 3, line 41: The bloom of young Desire and purple light of Love.
Rich with the spoils of time.
Thomas Gray— Thomas Gray, Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 13.
