Top 15 Samuel Daniel Quotes

Custom, that is before all law; Nature, that is above all art.

Unless above himself he can
Erect himself, how poor a thing is man!

He that of such a height hath built his mind,
And rear'd the dwelling of his thoughts so strong,
As neither fear nor hope can shake the frame
Of his resolved powers; nor all the wind
Of vanity or malice pierce to wrong
His settled peace, or to disturb the same;
What a fair seat hath he, from whence he may
The boundless wastes and wilds of man survey?
And with how free an eye doth he look down
Upon these lower regions of turmoil?
Where all the storms of passions mainly beat
On flesh and blood: where honour, power, renown,
Are only gay afflictions, golden toil;
Where greatness stands upon as feeble feet,
As frailty doth; and only great doth seem
To little minds, who do it so esteem.

For ever by Adversity are wrought
The greatest Works of Admiration;
And all the Fair Examples of Renown,
Out of Distress and Misery are grown.

And who (in time) knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent
T' enrich unknowing nations with our stores?
What worlds in the yet unformed Occident
May come refin'd with th' accents that are ours?

This is the thing that I was born to do.

And for the few that only lend their ear,
That few is all the world.

Sacred religion! mother of form and fear.

O blessed letters that combine in one
All ages past, and make one live with all,
By you we do confer with who are gone,
And the dead living unto counsel call:
By you th'unborn shall have communion
Of what we feel, and what doth us befall.

The stars that have most glory have no rest.

Devotion, mother of obedience.

As that the walls worn thin, permit the mind
To look out thorough, and his frailty find. 1

He hath nothing done that doth not all.

The bounds once overgone that hold men in,
They never stay; but on from bad to worse.
Wrongs do not leave off there where they begin,
But still beget new mischiefs in their course.

Who reproves the lame must go upright.