William Watson Quotes

Sea that breakest for ever, that breakest and never art broken.

Flower-fondled, clasp'd in ivy's close caress,
It seems with Nature, yet apart.

And, though circuitous and obscure,
The feet of Nemesis how sure!

God, by the earlier sceptic, was exiled;
The later is more lenient grown and mild:
He sanctions God, provided you agree
To any other name for deity.

Earth is less fragrant now, and heaven more sweet.

The thirst to know and understand—
A large and liberal discontent:
These are the goods in life's rich hand,
The things that are more excellent.

Ladies whose smile embroiled the world.

Deemest thou, labour
Only is earnest?
Grave is all beauty,
Solemn is joy.

In this house with starry dome,
Floored with gemlike plains and seas,
Shall I never feel at home,
Never wholly be at ease?<p>On from room to room I stray,
Yet mine Host can ne’er espy,
And I know not to this day
Whether guest or captive I.

The Poet gathers fruit from every tree,
Yea, grapes from thorns and figs from thistles he.
Pluck'd by his hand, the basest weed that grows
Towers to a lily, reddens to a rose.

Hate and mistrust are the children of blindness.

Best they honour thee
Who honour in thee only what is best.

Empires dissolve and peoples disappear,
Song passes not away.

O be less beautiful, or be less brief.

The after-silence, when the feast is o'er,
And void the places where the minstrels stood,
Differs in nought from what hath been before,
And is nor ill nor good.