Home › P › Prophecy

Prophecy: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Beneath this starry arch, Naught resteth or is still ; Naught resteth or is still; But all things hold their march As if by one great will. As if by one great will. Move one, move all: Hark to the footfall! On, on, forever.— HARRIET MARTINEAU — Stanzas.

That in our proper motion we ascend Up to our native seat; descent and fall To us is adverse.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 75.

The march of intellect.— ROBERT SOUTHEY — Sir T. More, or

Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society. Vol. II. P. 361. Press on!-" for in the grave there is no work And no device" -Press on! while yet ye may!— N. P. WILLIS — From a Poem Delivered at Yale College, 1827. L. 45.

Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life! The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray!— BYRON — Bride of Abydos. Canto II. St. 20.

Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe, Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast; Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so."— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XIV. St. 50.

The prophet's mantle, ere his flight began, Dropt on the world-a sacred gift to man.— CAMPBELL — Pleasures of Hope. Pt. I. L. 43.

Ancestral voices prophesying war.— COLERIDGE — Kubla Khan.

Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word; And in its hollow tones are heard The thanks of millions yet to be.— FITZ — GREENE HALLECK-Marco

Bozzaris. Prophet of evil! never hadst thou yet A cheerful word for me. To mark the signs Of coming mischief is thy great delight, Good dost thou ne'er foretell nor bring to pass.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. I. L. 138.

Bryant's trans. No mighty trance, or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.— MILTON — Hymn on Christ's Nativity. L. 173.

In nature's infinite book of secrecy A little I can read.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 9.

O my prophetic soul! My uncle!— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 40.

Bene qui conjiciet, vatem hunc perhibebo optimum. I shall always consider the best guesser the best prophet.— CICERO — De Divinatione. II. 5.