How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends … - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

A harmless life, she called a virtuous life,
A quiet life, which was not life at all . . .

Better far
Pursue a frivolous trade by serious means,
Than a sublime art frivolously.

The growing drama has outgrown such toys
Of simulated stature, face, and speech:
It also peradventure may outgrow
The simulation of the painted scene,
Boards, actors, prompters, gaslight, and costume,
And take for a worthier stage the soul itself,
Its shifting fancies and celestial lights,
With all its grand orchestral silences
To keep the pauses of its rhythmic sounds.