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Thought: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stol'n, Let him not know 't, and he's not robb'd at all.— Shakespeare — Othello. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 342.
In limited professions there's boundless theft.— Shakespeare — Timon of Athens. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 430.
Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm. Julius Cæsar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 9. The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief: He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.— Shakespeare — Othello. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 208.
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction Robs the vast sea; the moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun : The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief, That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen From general excrement: each thing's a thief; The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power Have uncheck'd theft.— Shakespeare — Timon of Athens. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 439.
Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves.— Shakespeare — Measure for Measure. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 176.
Thou hast stolen both mine office and my name; The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 44.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.— Shakespeare — Othello. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 157.
T. Well, well, be it so, thou strongest thief of all, For thou hast stolen my will, and made it thine. S.— TENNYSON — The Foresters. Act III. Sc. 1.
The kings of modern thought are dumb.— MATTHEW ARNOLD — Stanzas from the
Grande Chartreuse. Great thoughts, like great deeds, need No trumpet.— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. Home.
I stood Among them, but not of them in a shroud Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.— BYRON — Childe Harold. Canto III. St. 113.
The power of Thought, -the magic of the Mind!— BYRON — The Corsair. Canto I. St. 8.
What exile from himself can flee? To zones, though more and more remote, Still, still pursues, where'er I be, The blight of life-the demon Thought.— BYRON — Childe Harold. To Inez. Canto I. St. 84. L. 6.
Whatsoe'er thy birth, Thou wert a beautiful thought and softly bodied forth.— BYRON — Childe Harold. Canto IV. St. 115.
Nay, in every epoch of the world, the great event, parent of all others, is it not the arrival of a Thinker in the world?— CARLYLE — Heroes and Hero Worship.
Lecture I. Thought once awakened does not again not again slumber.— CARLYLE — Heroes and Hero Worship.
Lecture I. With curious art the brain, too finely wrought, Preys on herself, and is destroyed by thought.— CHURCHILL — Epistle to Wm. Hogarth. L. 645.
Old things need not be therefore true, O brother men, nor yet the new; Ah! still awhile the old thought retain, And yet consider it again!— ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH — Ah, yet
Consider it Again. Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together Thoughts so all unlike each other; To mutter and mock a broken charm, To dally with wrong that does no harm.— COLERIDGE — Christabel. Conclusion to
Part II. In indolent vacuity of thought.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. IV. The Winter Evening. L. 297. L. 297.
Second thoughts, they say, are best.— DRYDEN — The Spanish Friar. Act II. Sc. 2.
For thoughts are so great-aren't they, sir? They seem to lie upon us like a deep flood.— GEORGE ELIOT — Adam Bede. Ch. VIII.
Our growing thought Makes growing revelation.— GEORGE ELIOT — Spanish Gypsy. Bk. II.
Every thought which genius and piety throw into the world, alters the world.— EMERSON — Essays. Of Politics.
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world.— EMERSON — Letters and Social Aims.
Progress of Culture. Not from a vain or shallow thought His awful Jove young Phidias brought.— EMERSON — The Problem.
The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.— EMERSON — Conduct of Life. Fate.
Among mortals second thoughts are the wisest.— EURIPIDES — Hippolytus. 438.
Those who think must govern those that toil.— GOLDSMITH — The Traveller. L. 372.
Thoughts that breathe and words that burn.— GRAY — Progress of Poesy. III. 3. L.4.
Their own second and sober thoughts. и.— MATHEW HENRY — Exposition.
Job VI. 29. A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times.— O. W. HOLMES — The Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table. I. My thoughts and I were of another world.— BEN JONSON — Every Man Out of His Humour. Act III. Sc. 3.
Sudden a thought came like a full-blown rose, Flushing his brow.— KEATS — The Eve of St. Agnes. St. 16.
The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have, and therefore should be secured, because they seldom return again.— LOCKE — Letter to Mr. Sam'l Bold.
May 16, 1699. A thought often makes us hotter than a fire.— LONGFELLOW — Drift-Wood. Table-Talk.
My own thoughts Are my companions. aa.— LONGFELLOW — The Masque of Pandora. Pt. III. Tower of Prometheus on
Mount Caucasus. The surest pledge of a deathless name Is the silent homage of thoughts unspoken. bb. LONGFELLOw-The Herons of Elmwood. St. 9. Thoughts so sudden, that they seem The revelations of a dream.— LONGFELLOW — Prelude to Tales of a Wayside Inn. Pt. I. L. 233.
All thoughts that mould the age begin Deep down within the primitive soul.— LOWELL — An Incident in a Railroad Car.
Thought is valuable in proportion as it is generative.— BULWER-LYTTON — Caxtoniana.
Essay XIV. Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green shade.— ANDREW MARVELL — The Garden. Translated.
Thought alone is eternal. OWEN MEREDITH (Lord Lytton)- C. Lucile. Pt. II. Canto VI. St. 16. Grand Thoughts that never can be wearied out, Showing the unreality of Time. RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES (Lord Houghton)-Sonnet. To Charles Lamb. He that has light within his own clear breast, May sit i' th' centre and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the midday sun.— MILTON — Comus. L. 281.
Thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. III. L. 37.
Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.— BLAISE PASCAL — Thoughts. Ch. II. 10.
Thought can wing its way Swifter than lightning-flashes or the beam That hastens on the pinions of the morn.— PERCIVAL — Sonnet.
Sweetest mother, I can weave no more to-day, For thoughts of him come thronging, Him for whom my heart is longing- For I know not where my weary fingers stray.— SAPPHO — Fragment. J. S. Easby-
Smith's trans. At Learning's fountain it is sweet to drink, But 'tis a nobler privilege to think. J. G. SAXE The Library. Still are the thoughts to memory dear, k. Scott-Rokeby. Canto I. St. 33. A maiden hath no tongue but thought.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 8.
But now behold, In the quick forge and working-house of thought, How London doth pour out her citizens!— Shakespeare — Henry V. Act V. Prologue. L. 22.
My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 19.
The incessant care and labour of his mind Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in So thin that life looks through and will break out.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 118.
A thought by thought is piled, till some great truth Is loosened, and the nations echo round, Shaken to their roots, as do the mountains now.— SHELLEY — Prometheus Unbound. Act II. Sc. 3.
Come near me! I do weave A chain I cannot break-I am possest With thoughts too swift and strong for one lone human breast.— SHELLEY — Revolt of Islam. Canto IX. St. 33.
Strange thoughts beget strange deeds.— SHELLEY — The Cenci. Act IV. Sc. 4.
If I could think how these my thoughts to leave, Or thinking still, my thoughts might have good end: If rebel sense would reason's law receive; Or reason foil'd would not in vain contend: Then might I think what thoughts were best to think: Then might I wisely swim, or gladly sink. S.— SIR PHILIP SIDNEY — Sonnet.
They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.— SIR PHILIP SIDNEY — The Arcadia. Bk. I.
Oh, the fetterless mind! how it wandereth free Through the wildering maze of Eternity!— HENRY SMITH — Thought.
Thinking is but an idle waste of thought, And naught is everything, and everything is naught.— HORACE AND JAMES SMITH — Rejected
Addresses. Cui Bono? Thought can never be compared with action, but when it awakens in us the image of truth. MADAME DE STAËL Germany. Pt. I. Ch. VIII. What a man thinks in his spirit in the world, that he does after his departure from the world when he becomes a spirit. X.— SWEDENBORG — Divine Providence. 101.
Though man a thinking being is defined, Few use the grand prerogative of mind. How few think justly of the thinking few! How many never think, who think they do.— JANE TAYLOR — Essays in Rhyme.
On Morals and Manners. Prejudice. Essay I. St. 45. And Thought leapt out to wed with Thought, Ere Thought could wed itself with Speech.— TENNYSON — In Memoriam. Pt. XXIII. St. 4.
Large elements in order brought, And tracts of calm from tempest made, And world-wide fluctuation sway'd, In vassal tides that follow'd thought.— TENNYSON — In Memoriam.
Ah! comme vous dites, il faut glisser sur bien des pensées, et ne pas faire semblant de les voir. Ah! as you say, we should slip over many thoughts and act as though we did not perceive them.— MME. DE SÉVIGNÉ — Lettres. 70.
La clarté orna les pensées profondes. Clearness is the ornament of profound thought. IV. Les grandes pensées viennent du cœur. Great thoughts come from the heart.— VAUVENARGUES — Réflexions. CXXVII.
Lorsqu'une pensée est trop faible pour porter une expression simple, c'est la marque pour la rejeter. When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it is a proof that it should be rejected. n. III. Es lebt ein anders denkendes Geschlecht! There lives a race which otherwise does think.— SCHILLER — Wilhelm Tell. II. 1. 206.
Sempre il miglior non è il parer primiero. First thoughts are not always the best.— ALFIERI — Don Garzia. III. 1.