Quotes from Robert Southey

A kitten is in the animal world what a rosebud is in the garden.

Affliction is not sent in vain, young man, from that good God, who chastens whom he loves.

"You are old, Father William," the young man cried, "The few locks which are left you are gray; You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,- Now tell me the reason I pray."

Easier were it To hurl the rooted mountain from its base, Than force the yoke of slavery upon men Determin'd to be free.

Oh, when a mother meets on high The babe she lost in infancy, Hath she not then for pains and fears, The day of woe, the watchful night, For all her sorrow, all her tears, An over-payment of delight?

To a resolute mind, wishing to do is the first step toward doing. But if we do not wish to do a thing it becomes impossible.

As sure as God is good, so surely there is no such thing as necessary evil.

Our knowledge, is our power, and God our strength.

In the days of my youth I remembered my God! And He hath not forgotten my age.

The laws are with us, and God on our side.

It has been more wittily than charitably said that hell is paved with good intentions; they have their place in heaven also.

A good man and a wise man may at times be angry with the world, at times grieved for it; but be sure no man was ever discontented with the world who did his duty in it.

A stubborn mind conduces as little to wisdom or even to knowledge, as a stubborn temper to happiness

Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. As the beams to a house, as the bones to the microcosm of man, so is order to all things.

There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never know beyond its hallowed limits.

Curses are like young chickens, theyalways come home to roost.

Ye who dwell at home, Ye do not know the terrors of the main.

I cannot believe in an eternity of hell. I hope God will forgive me if I err; but in this matter I cannot say, "Lord help my unbelief."

That charity is bad which takes from independence its proper pride, from mendicity its salutary shame.

Without religion the highest endowments of intellect can only render the possessor more dangerous if he be ill disposed; if well disposed, only more unhappy.

Cupid "the little greatest god."

All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things.

For society, of all places I have ever been, Norwich is the best.

Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.