Quotes from Edward Fitzgerald

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of SpringThe Winter garment of Repentance fling:The Bird of Time has but a little wayTo fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

'Tis all a chequer board of nights and days, Where destiny with men for pieces plays; Hither and thither, and mates, and slays.

Mrs. Browning's death was rather a relief to me, I must say; no more Aurora Leighs, thank God!

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,Before we too into the Dust descend;Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End!

Now the New Year reviving old Desires,The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires.

"While you live,Drink!—for, once dead, you never shall return."

There was the Door to which I found no Key;There was the Veil through which I might not see.Some little talk awhile of Me and TheeThere was—and then no more of Thee and Me.

Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?

Leave well - even 'pretty well' - alone that is what I learn as I get old.

Whether we wake or we sleep, Whether we carol or weep, The Sun with his Planets in chime, Marketh the going of Time.

And much as Wine has played the Infidel, And robbed me of my Robe of Honor Well, I often wonder what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the stuff they sell.

Think then you are Today what Yesterday you were - Tomorrow you shall not be less.

I am all for the short and merry life.

Taste is the feminine of genius.

Tis all a Checkerboard of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and stays, And one by one back in the Closet lays.

The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Here or There as strikes the Player goes.

There was the Door to which I found no key; There was the Veil through which I might see.

Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blackened. Man's Forgiveness give - and take!