Victor Daley Quotes

Here I can sit at ease on days of rain,
And read my Rabelais and my Montaigne,
Self-centred as a solitary star
That has no satellites its peace to mar.
Society salutes me with salaam,
For I am single — thank the Lord I am!

If beings of Mythology Could live at my commands I'd choose to be, Who had a hundred hands:
And every hand of mine
Would hold a pint of wine.

I'd sooner talk to a man than a woman any day. Ten minutes exhausts them.

I do not care for men To point with pride at me;
A model citizen I do not wish to be.

O reader, deem me not a sham,
For I in purple earnest am!

There's rest and peace in plenty here, and eggs and milk to spare;
The scenery is calm and sane, and wholesome is the air;
The folk are kind, the cows behave like cousins unto me ...
But please the Lord, on Monday morn, I'm leaving Arcady.

Ah apple caused man's fall, as some believe; But that old Snake, malevolently wise,
A deadlier snare set when he left to Eve His tongue of honey and mesmeric eyes.

Life is a web with many broken ends: Then why, O friend, be sad?
Good is not near so good as it pretends; Bad is not half so bad.

I learnt the language of the birds, A new St. Francis I would be;
But, when I understood their words — The birds were preaching unto me.

Could the Resurrection be
I had wished it but for Thee
For though all things rose changed and new
Thou wouldst rise unchanged and true
And cash at once my I.O.U.

The parson said: "Your sinful Past Will make for you a fiery rod."
I smiled, and thought upon the vast Amused indifference of God.

Other Bards I envy not —
Room there is for all, God wot —
All I ask is room for me
On the top branch of the tree.

I make or mar. My daring hand
Explores the entrails of the land,
And finds, beneath a greasy hat,
An Austral Homer at Cow Flat.

The narrow, thorny path he trod. "Enter into My joy," said God.
The sad ascetic shook his head; "I've lost all taste for joy," he said.

Long ago I did discover It was fine to be a lover,
But the heartache and the worry spoil the game: Now I think, like an old vandal, That the game's not worth the candle—
And I know some other vandals think the same.