Beautiful quotes — Page 2

The Rape of the Lock, Canto V, line 34 in Pope’s 1717 revision; final line of Clarissa’s added speech. The inherited 1714 source year is corrected to 1717; the narrator immediately notes that the audience gives her no applause, keeping the maxim inside its mock-heroic dramatic setting.

“The Garden,” posthumously published in Miscellaneous Poems (1681), represented through the public-domain Project Gutenberg text in The Quiet Life. The lines belong to a lyric meditation on solitude, mind, nature and Edenic imagery.

“To My Dear and Loving Husband,” posthumously published in the 1678 second edition of Several Poems; represented by Representative Poetry Online. The poem is a Puritan-era personal love lyric with explicitly religious closing language.

“To Celia,” first published in The Forest in 1616. The couplet belongs to a stylized Renaissance love lyric whose imagery develops through wine, nectar, kisses and a returned wreath.

Character Building, “The Highest Education,” Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington places appreciation of beauty in nature alongside truth, justice, generosity and service as outcomes of education; this sentence belongs to the later address identified here rather than the earlier education address.

“A Better Resurrection,” in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862 first edition), Devotional Pieces, printed page 137 / scan leaf 153. “My life is in the falling leaf: O Jesus, quicken me” closes the first stanza as a direct Christian prayer for renewed life; the address to Jesus and resurrection frame are essential context and are not secularized into generic recovery advice.

“Another Spring,” Project Gutenberg #16950. The stanza begins conditionally—'If I might see another Spring'—so the present-focused conclusion grows from mortality and uncertainty.

“The First Spring Day,” Project Gutenberg #16950. The alternative 'world to come' makes the Christian eschatological dimension explicit.

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, represented by Project Gutenberg #779. Faustus speaks to a supernatural apparition of Helen late in the tragedy; the line is fictional dramatic speech in a scene of temptation and damnation, not Marlowe’s autobiographical judgment.

Hero and Leander, posthumously published in 1598. The sentence is a narrator’s rhetorical claim inside mythological narrative poetry and should not be treated as psychological evidence about how real relationships develop.

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” represented in Project Gutenberg #20356. The lyric survives through early printed witnesses and is a pastoral invitation by a poetic speaker; its promises are literary fantasy rather than a factual description of rural life.

John Halifax, Gentleman, represented by Project Gutenberg #2351. The phrase belongs to the first-person narrator Phineas Fletcher while describing the river; it is a literary simile inside the novel, not direct autobiography by Craik.

“Annabel Lee,” written near the end of Poe’s life and published in 1849, represented by Poetry Foundation. The quotation is first-person lyric speech by the poem’s narrator inside a highly stylized elegy; its supernatural claims about angels and enduring souls remain poetic imagery.

Just David, represented by Project Gutenberg #440. The sentence appears in a farewell letter from David’s father that other characters read after his death. It is framed fictional advice inside the novel, not Porter speaking autobiographically, and it does not imply that personal attitude can remove every external hardship.

“Love and Friendship,” Project Gutenberg #1019. The comparison is a poetic metaphor, not a claim that friendship and romantic love always follow one fixed pattern.

“A Light Exists in Spring,” in Poems: Third Series (1896), represented through Project Gutenberg #12242. The Gutenberg text reproduces an early edited Dickinson edition, so punctuation and the editorial title are edition-specific rather than claimed as manuscript-final.

“Autumn,” Poems: First Series (1890), Project Gutenberg #12242. The title and punctuation follow the represented early printed edition rather than a modern manuscript-based Dickinson edition.

“Beclouded,” Poems: First Series; Project Gutenberg #12242. The line is personification and comparison, not a literal claim that nature possesses human emotion or status.

“Beclouded,” in Poems: First Series (1890), Project Gutenberg #12242. Nature is personified in the poem; the editorial heading and punctuation reflect the early printed edition.

“November,” in Poems: Second Series (1891), Project Gutenberg #12242. The passage is tied to the early edited collection and its editorial title.

Opening lines; punctuation follows a common scholarly transcription.

Poem commonly titled “A Book,” later known by its opening line; first two lines of the poem.

Poem in Poems: First Series (1890), represented as “The Bee Is Not Afraid of Me” for source disambiguation; Project Gutenberg #12242. The title is an editorial first-line identifier.

Genesis 1:31, King James Version; the verse concludes the creation sequence with an assessment of everything that had been made.

At the Back of the North Wind; Project Gutenberg #225. Spoken by the fictional child Diamond to North Wind, so the page preserves speaker and fantasy context rather than presenting it as direct memoir.

The Life of Reason, Reason in Society; the sentence opens a discussion of family bonds and reciprocal interests.

The Sense of Beauty (1896), Part I, §11, ‘The definition of beauty,’ Project Gutenberg #26842; the represented section begins on printed page 49. ‘Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing’ is Santayana’s summary definition after describing beauty as positive, intrinsic and objectified value. This remains historical naturalistic aesthetic theory / philosophical psychology, not a modern empirical test proving an object objectively beautiful.

“God’s Grandeur,” in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published, Project Gutenberg #22403. Hopkins wrote the sonnet in 1877; it was published posthumously in 1918. The statement is Christian poetic belief, not an empirical description of nature.

Optimism: An Essay (1903), Project Gutenberg #31622. The sentence belongs to Keller’s personal moral and religious account of optimism.

The World I Live In (1908), Chapter VIII, “The Five-sensed World,” printed page 111, Project Gutenberg #27683. Keller argues that the most beautiful world is entered through imagination while defending imaginative participation in realities that are not directly available to a particular physical sense.

The World I Live In (1908), Chapter VI, “Smell, the Fallen Angel,” printed page 79, Project Gutenberg #27683. Keller calls smell a potent wizard after describing scent as capable of restoring distant places and earlier periods of her life; the sentence is autobiographical sensory reflection, not a general neuroscience claim.

Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, Chapter I, Project Gutenberg #4584. Adams’s playful guide-narrator says that “taste is free, and all styles are good which amuse” while comparing Norman seriousness with later French architectural taste before asking the reader to understand the energy expressed by Norman art. It is rhetorical aesthetic commentary rather than a complete or empirical theory of artistic value.

The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, August 19, 1851 entry, around printed page 405 in Journal II, represented by Project Gutenberg #59031. ‘How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live!’ begins a paragraph in which Thoreau connects walking and bodily action with the flow of his own thoughts. It is dated autobiographical journal reflection and writing philosophy, not a rule that all writing requires literal standing or walking.

Walden, Conclusion; Thoreau closes the book by insisting that more day remains to dawn before describing the sun as only a morning star.

Walden, chapter “The Pond in Winter”; the line joins the immediate natural world with spiritual wonder.

Walden, chapter “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.”

Essay “Walking”; Thoreau links uncultivated nature with renewal and human vitality.

The Day Is Done, opening stanza; Longfellow introduces the evening mood before asking for soothing poetry.

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, Letter IX, Project Gutenberg #755. Bird calls the nearly thirty-mile cattle-hunt ride one of the most splendid she ever took and immediately describes galloping, fallen timber, rocky descents, deep rapid streams, elk and mountain scenery. This is nineteenth-century firsthand travel narrative, not present-day route, riding or safety guidance.

The Call of the Wild, Project Gutenberg #215. The sentence introduces a passage about Buck leading the pack and is literary narration that also compares artistic and martial absorption; it is not a scientific definition of peak experience.

Emma, Volume III, Chapter XIII, scan-backed 1816 John Murray first edition on Wikisource. George Knightley tells Emma “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more” during his declaration, explicitly contrasting the depth of his feeling with his difficulty making polished speeches.

Matthew 6:28, King James Version; Jesus points listeners to the lilies while discussing anxiety about clothing and material provision.

Pepacton, discussion of poetic interpretation of nature. Burroughs contrasts objective natural-history observation with the poet’s subjective idealization, using Shelley and Keats as examples.

Wake-Robin; Burroughs reflects on close observation of natural life and the limits of easy comprehension.

Endymion: A Poetic Romance (1818), Book I, line 1, Project Gutenberg #24280, reproducing the Taylor and Hessey 1818 text. “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever” opens the poem’s mythic Romantic meditation on beauty; the statement remains a poetic proposition rather than empirical evidence that every aesthetic experience produces permanent happiness.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn,” in Keats: Poems Published in 1820; Project Gutenberg #23684. The words are presented as the urn’s closing message, so the source page preserves the dramatic-poetic framing.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn,” closing lines.

“Ode on Melancholy,” in Keats: Poems Published in 1820; Project Gutenberg #23684. This is Romantic poetic imagery and not mental-health treatment advice.

On the Grasshopper and Cricket, opening line.

On the Grasshopper and Cricket, final line; the cricket continues the earth’s poetry in winter.

“To Autumn,” in Keats: Poems Published in 1820; Project Gutenberg #23684. The phrase opens a poem whose imagery follows ripening, harvest and the sounds of the season.

“To Autumn,” final stanza, in Keats: Poems Published in 1820; Project Gutenberg #23684. The line follows the question “Where are the songs of Spring?” and answers by valuing autumn’s own sounds.

My First Summer in the Sierra, near the close of the summer journal.

My First Summer in the Sierra, June 13; the sentence follows his reflection on not hurrying like the trees and stars.

Our National Parks; Muir follows the invitation with an account of nature’s peace flowing into the observer, linking mountains with restoration and attention.

Our National Parks; the sentence occurs in Muir’s invitation to enter the mountains and receive their restorative influence.

The Mountains of California, in a passage describing morning light on the mountains.

The Mountains of California, in Muir’s description of mountain forest scenery.

Travels in Alaska, mountain excursion near the Stickeen; Muir describes the effect of evening light after a strenuous day.

Travels in Alaska, early sea voyage; Muir moves from ocean scenery to imagining the globe and stars together.

Travels in Alaska, exploration of the Stickeen glaciers; Muir describes glacial processes as continuing creation.

Lectures on Art, Lecture IV, Project Gutenberg #19164. Capitalization follows Ruskin’s analytical categories in the lecture.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Part I, Chapter X, “The Man of the Seas,” represented by Project Gutenberg #164 in English translation. Captain Nemo tells Professor Aronnax that the sea is everything and covers seven-tenths of the globe inside a longer speech mixing geography, Romantic nature language and his desire for independence from terrestrial power. It is translated fictional dialogue, not a current scientific source.

The Prophet, “On Work.”

The Prophet, “On Work.”

“Saturday. The Small-Pox” in Six Town Eclogues (1747), represented by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive. Flavia speaks after smallpox has altered her appearance. Montagu survived smallpox herself, but this record preserves the poem’s dramatic Flavia voice and eighteenth-century beauty/satire context rather than collapsing it into autobiography or medical advice.

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto IV, stanza CLXXVIII (178), Project Gutenberg #5131. “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods” opens Byron’s famous stanza on solitude, shore, sea and nature. It remains poetic Romantic-era expression rather than scientific evidence about nature exposure or mental health.

“She Walks in Beauty,” first stanza, in Hebrew Melodies.

Little Women, Chapter 24, “Gossip,” Project Gutenberg #514. The narrator says Meg has grown prettier than ever because “love is a great beautifier” while describing the three years before her wedding. This is literary narrator commentary about Meg’s happiness and maturation, not an empirical claim that affection produces a guaranteed physical effect.

A Vindication of the Rights of Men, opening letter to Edmund Burke, second edition (1790); this sentence follows Wollstonecraft’s refusal to disguise her sentiments behind courtly politeness.

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), “MORAL DISCIPLINE,” printed page 22, Project Gutenberg #67466. Wollstonecraft urges that a taste for the beauties of nature be cultivated early and immediately recommends making the vegetable and animal worlds intelligible and amusing to children.

Cheerfulness as a Life Power; Project Gutenberg #18394. Context notes distinguish motivational rhetoric from modern psychological evidence.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890 Lippincott magazine text, Chapter 2; Lord Henry praises Dorian’s beauty and youth.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 edition, Preface; the first aphorism in Wilde’s statement of aesthetic principles.

Final line of Ode to the West Wind; the changing seasons become a metaphor for historical and personal renewal.

Ode to the West Wind, opening line; Shelley addresses the autumn wind directly.

“To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works,” published in Wheatley’s 1773 Poems and represented by Poetry Foundation. The poem addresses Scipio Moorhead within Wheatley’s explicitly Christian artistic vocabulary; “deathless glories” carries religious as well as artistic meaning.

Symposium, Diotima’s ascent toward beauty as recounted by Socrates, Benjamin Jowett translation, Project Gutenberg #1600. This is one stage in an ancient philosophical account of beauty and love, not a modern psychological ranking of attractiveness.

The Republic, Book III, Jowett translation; the passage connects musical and literary form with simplicity of character.

Proverbs 25:11, King James Version.

Psalm 19:1, King James Version; the psalm opens by treating the heavens and firmament as a form of testimony through creation.

Psalm 96:12, King James Version; the verse belongs to a sequence in which sea, fields, and trees participate figuratively in rejoicing.

Stray Birds, aphorism 28, Project Gutenberg #6524, translated from Bengali by Tagore himself. ‘O BEAUTY, find thyself in love, not in the flattery of thy mirror’ is a compact personified poetic aphorism placed between numbered sayings 27 and 29. It should not be flattened into a literal rule about appearance, self-worth or relationships.

Nature (first published 1836), Chapter I, “Nature,” in James Munroe and Company’s 1849 new-edition witness represented by Project Gutenberg #29433. A scan of the same 1849 J. Munroe edition places “Nature always wears the colors of the spirit” on printed page 9. Emerson is arguing that inward condition colors the experience of landscape; this is nineteenth-century Transcendentalist philosophy, not modern cognitive science, environmental psychology or a clinical claim.

The Story of My Heart (1883), Chapter III, Project Gutenberg #2317. The inherited Chapter I note is corrected: ‘It is eternity now’ occurs in Jefferies’s tumulus meditation after he writes that, recognising his inner consciousness / psyche, he cannot understand time. It is speculative spiritual autobiography and metaphysical-poetic reflection, not a scientific theory of time, physics or consciousness.

“Delight in Disorder,” from Hesperides (1648), represented by Project Gutenberg #1211. The poem is a seventeenth-century lyric of attraction and dress; its period language is preserved as aesthetic poetry rather than a modern norm about appearance.

“To Daffodils,” from Hesperides (1648), represented by Project Gutenberg #1211. The poem develops a conventional lyric comparison between short-lived flowers and human mortality.

“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” published in Hesperides in 1648. The poem’s later marriage exhortation reflects its seventeenth-century social setting; the opening image is retained as literary carpe-diem rhetoric, not universal relationship advice.

Essays in the Art of Writing, “On Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature”; Project Gutenberg #492. “Difficulty” here concerns literary form and craft, not a universal claim that hardship automatically makes things better.

Essays in the Art of Writing, “On Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature,” represented by the 1905 Chatto & Windus edition in Project Gutenberg #492. The collection is posthumous; the excerpt concerns literary aesthetics.

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles applies the chapter’s labour argument to intellectual and creative production, listing study, observation, research and diligent elaboration as the work behind useful and beautiful thought.

“Kubla Khan,” published with Christabel in 1816 and represented in Project Gutenberg #11101. These are lyric-narrative lines describing the “deep romantic chasm”; the supernatural imagery is poetic invention.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part VII, Project Gutenberg #151. ‘He prayeth best, who loveth best / All things both great and small’ belongs to the Mariner's explicitly Christian concluding lesson after his supernatural ordeal, immediately following the parallel line about loving ‘Both man and bird and beast.’ It is fictional poetic speech and religious-moral language, not a neutral scientific, theological or animal-behavior proposition.

Religio Medici, represented by Project Gutenberg #586. Browne develops this sentence inside an explicitly Christian natural-theology argument about providence, creation and the beauty of living forms. It is historical religious philosophy, not a scientific definition of nature.

The Pleasures of Hope, Part I, represented in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg #59788. ‘’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view’ appears in the poem's opening mountain image and immediately leads into a comparison with imagined future joys appearing more pleasing from afar. It remains Romantic poetic analogy and philosophical observation rather than an empirical law of visual perception, memory or decision-making.

“An August Midnight,” Project Gutenberg #3168. The line is poetic speculation about nonhuman knowledge rather than a scientific claim about insect cognition.

“An August Midnight,” Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), Project Gutenberg #3168. The five include the speaker and small creatures gathered around his writing table.

“The Last Chrysanthemum,” Project Gutenberg #3168. The corpse comparison is figurative seasonal language inside the poem.

“The Last Chrysanthemum,” Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), Project Gutenberg #3168. Floral death is poetic seasonal imagery, not literal human bereavement.

Leaves of Grass (1855), untitled first-edition poem later known as “Song of Myself,” printed page 56 (Wikisource scan page 62). The line belongs to the poem’s final movement, later numbered section 52; the 1855 record remains tied to the unnumbered first edition rather than inheriting later section structure.