Quotes from William Collins

Peace rules the day where reason rules the mind.

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,By all their country's wishes bless'd!

If aught of oaten stop or pastoral songMay hope, O pensive Eve, to soothe thine ear.

Prior to Wordsworth, humor was an essential part of poetry. I mean, they don't call them Shakespeare comedies for nothing.

I think humor is a very serious thing. I use it as a way of weakening the reader's defenses so that I can more easily take him to something more.

'Twas sad by fits, by starts 'twas wild.

Now air is hush'd, save where the weak-ey'd bat,With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing,Or where the beetle windsHis small but sullen horn.

By fairy hands their knell is rung,By forms unseen their dirge is sung;There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray,To bless the turf that wraps their clay,And Freedom shall awhile repair,To dwell a weeping hermit there!

Any book without a mistake in it has had too much money spent on it.

Sad was the Hour, and luckless was the Day. - Eclogue the Second: Hassan; or the Camel-driver

Curst be the Gold and Silver which persuade Weak Men to follow far-fatiguing Trade! The Lilly-Peace outshines the silver Store, And Life is dearer than the golden Ore. Yet Money tempts us o'er the Desert brown, To ev'ry distant Mart and wealthy Town: Full oft we tempt the Land and Sea; And are we only yet repay'd by Thee? Ah! why was Ruin so attractive made, Or why fond Man so easily betrayed? - Eclogue the Second. Hassan; or the Camel-driver

Unhappy Land, whose Blessings tempt the Sword. Eclogue the Fourth. Agib and Secander; or the Fugitives

Prior to Wordsworth, humor was an essential part of poetry. I mean, they don't call them Shakespeare comedies for nothing.

In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong.

I think humor is a very serious thing. I use it as a way of weakening the reader's defenses so that I can more easily take him to something more.

Beloved, till life can charm no more; And mourned, till Pity's self be dead.

When a writer becomes a reader of his or her own work, a lot can go wrong. It's like do-it-yourself dentistry.

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest. By all their country's wishes blest!

Words like feminism or democracy scare me. They are words with barnacles on them, and you can't see what's underneath.

By fairy hands their knell is rung; By forms unseen their dirge is sung.