Coventry Patmore Quotes

He is irrational, however well he may be able to reason, who does not clearly see that good is good and truth truth.

Without his knowledge he was won;
Against his nature kept devout;
She'll never tell him how 'twas done,
And he will never find it out.
If, sudden, he suspects her wiles,
And hears her forging chain and trap,
And looks, she sits in simple smiles,
Her two hands lying in her lap.
Her secret (privilege of the Bard,
Whose fancy is of either sex),
Is mine; but let the darkness guard
Myst'ries that light would more perplex!

She is both heaven and the way.

Religion is not religion until it has become, not only natural, but so natural that nothing else seems natural in its presence.

Bright looks reply, approving so
Beauty's elixir vitæ, praise.

Science is a line, art a superficies, and life, or the knowledge of God, a solid.

The bliss which woman's charms bespeak,
"I've sought in many, found in none!"
"In many 'tis in vain you seek
"What can be found in only one.

Having my law the seventh time disobey'd,
I struck him, and dismiss'd
With hard words and unkiss'd,
—His Mother, who was patient, being dead.

The enthusiasm for goodness which shows that it is not the habit of the mind.

I saw you take his kiss!" "'Tis true."
"O, modesty!" "'Twas strictly kept:
He thought me asleep; at least, I knew
He thought I thought he thought I slept.

Man, when he is in health and order of soul and body, is Mount Olympus, and in him, so long as he confesses that he is nothing in himself, are sensibly apparent the powers and majesties, beauties and beatitudes of all Gods and Goddesses.

Creation differs from subsistence only as the first leap of a fountain differs from its continuance.

Creation is nothing but a concerted piece, consisting of representative repetitions and variations of and harmonious commentaries upon the simple theme, God, […] divine contrapuntal music […]. If Beethoven and Bach are but senseless noise to the untrained ears of the boy who likes to hear Balfe on the street organ; you, though you may be capable of Beethoven and Bach, should hesitate to affirm that the sphere-music is not music because to your ears it is nothing but confusion. The first step towards becoming able to hear it is, to fix your attention upon the theme, which is God.

Uncommon things must be said in common words, if you would have them to be received in less than a century.

Woman is the sum and complex of all nature, and is the visible glory of God.[…] The "Word made Flesh" [John 1:14] is the word made Woman.