Quotes from Edward Young

We are not all great because we are inspired, but we feel great because we are.

And all may do what has by man been done.

On every thorn, delightful wisdom grows, In every rill a sweet instruction flows.

Our birth is nothing but our death begun, As tapers waste the moment they take fire.

Praise, more divine than prayer; prayer points our ready path to heaven; praise is already there.

Prayer ardent opens heaven.

Much learning shows how little mortals know; much wealth, how little wordlings enjoy.

The clouds may drop down titles and estates, and wealth may seek us, but wisdom must be sought.

We bleed, we tremble; we forget, we smile - The mind turns fool, before the cheek is dry

Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile.

To frown at pleasure, and to smile in pain.

Leisure is pain; take off our chariot wheels; how heavily we drag the load of life!

There is something about poetry beyond prose logic, there is mystery in it, not to be explained but admired.

It is great and manly to disdain disguise; it shows our spirit and proves our strength.

At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan.

The purpose firm is equal to the deed.

The maid that loves goes out to sea upon a shattered plank, and puts her trust in miracles for safety.

How blessings brighten as they take their flight.

Life is the desert, life the solitude, death joins us to the great majority.

Less base the fear of death than fear of life.

Friendship is the wine of life: but friendship new... is neither strong nor pure

'Tis impious in a good man to be sad.

The future... seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking, never quite done.

Where, where for shelter shall the guilty fly, When consternation turns the good man pale?