Coventry Patmore Quotes

Why, having won her, do I woo?
Because her spirit's vestal grace
Provokes me always to pursue,
But, spirit-like, eludes embrace.[…]
Because though free of the outer court
I am, this Temple keeps its shrine
Sacred to Heaven; because, in short,
She's not and never can be mine.

What seems to us for us is true.
The planet has no proper light,
And yet when Venus is in view,
No primal star is half so bright.

Toleration, as it is now widely preached, may be a very one-sided bargain. It will not do to let falsehood and moral idiocy say to truth and honesty, "I will tolerate you if you will tolerate me."

God is the only reality, and we are real only so far as we are in His order, and He is in us.

The modern Agnostic improves upon the ancient by adding "I don't care" to "I don't know".

How light the touches are that kiss
The music from the chords of life!

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

The ardour chills us which we do not share.

The sunshine dreaming upon Salmon’s height
Is not so sweet and white
As the most heretofore sin-spotted Soul
That darts to its delight
Straight from the absolution of a faithful fight.

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.

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

To have nought
Is to have all things without care or thought!

Books are influential in proportion to their obscurity, provided that the obscurity be that of inexpressible Realities. The Bible is the most obscure book in the world. He must be a great fool who thinks he understands the plainest chapter of it.

The flower of olden sanctities.

The history of creation, regarded by some in very early ages as probably "mythical," has, indeed, been proved to be certainly so, but the myth includes teaching of much more significance to us than the supposed history, and everyone should be glad to discover this additional proof that the aim of the writers of Scripture was not to satisfy an idle curiosity about facts which do not concern us. The doctrine of evolution promises to be of very easy assimilation by the Church.