Samuel Rogers

“If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city.”

“That man may last, but never lives, Who much receives, but nothing gives; Whom none can love, whom none can thank,— Creation's blot, creation's blank.”

“To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others governs our manners.”

“You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor.”

“Mine be a cot beside the hill; a bee-hive's hum shall soothe my ear, a willowy brook that turns a mill, with many a fall shall linger near.”

“When a new book is published, read an old one.”

“She was good as she was fair. None—none on earth above her! As pure in thought as angels are, To know her was to love her.”

“Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.”

“A little learning is not a dangerous thing to one who does not mistake it for a great deal.”

“The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.”

“Absence of occupation is not rest; a mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.”

“The good are better made by ill, As odours crushed are sweeter still.”

“A guardian-angel o'er his life presiding, Doubling his pleasures, and his cares dividing.”

“Good-breeding is the result of much good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.”

“How many of our first thoughts are best!”

“The fire of true genius is a fire from Heaven; but it may be lit at an earthly altar.”