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Zeal: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.— ADDISON — Freeholder. No. 5.
Zealous, yet modest.— BEATTIE — The Minstrel. Bk. I. St. 11.
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee Calls back the lovely April of her prime: So thou through windows of thine age shall see. Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.— Shakespeare — Sonnet III.
Hail, blooming Youth! May all your virtues with your years im prove, Till in consummate worth you shine the pride Of these our days, and succeeding times A bright example,— WM. SOMERVILLE — The Chase. Bk. III. L. 389.
Youth should be a savings-bank.— MADAME SWETCHINE
What is that to him that reaps not harvest of his youthful joys, Though the deep heart of existence beat forever like a boy's?— TENNYSON — Locksley Hall. St. 70.
What unjust judges fathers are, when in regard to us they hold That even in our boyish days we ought in conduct to be old, Nor taste at all the very things that youth and only youth requires; They rule us by their present wants not by their past long-lost desires.— TERENCE — The Self-Tormentor. Act 1. Sc. 3. F. W. Ricord's trans.
A youth to whom was given So much of earth, so much of heaven.— WORDSWORTH — Ruth.
To be young was very heaven!— WORDSWORTH — The Prelude. Bk. XI.
Youth is not rich in time; it may be poor; Part with it as with money, sparing; pay No moment but in purchase of its worth, And what it's worth, ask death-beds; they can tell.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night II. L. 47.
Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.
Awake, my soul! stretch every nerve, And press with vigour on; A heavenly race demands thy zeal, And an immortal crown.— PHILIP DODDRIDGE — Zeal and Vigour
in the Christian Race. I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing."— SAM'L JOHNSON — Boswell's Life of
Johnson. 1779. A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know More of the Almighty's works, and chiefly Man, God's latest image. C.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. L. 565.
But his zeal None seconded, as out of season judged, Or singular and rash.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. V. L. 849.
But zeal moved thee; To please thy gods thou didst it!— MILTON — Samson Agonistes. L. 895.
So shall they build me altars in their zeal, Where knaves shall minister, and fools shall I kneel: Where faith may mutter o'er her mystic spell, Written in blood-and Bigotry may swell The sail he spreads for Heav'n with blasts from hell!— MOORE — Lalla Rookh. Veiled Prophet
of Khorassan. Zeal is very blind, or badly regulated, when it encroaches upon the rights of others. g. PASQUIER QUESNEL. For virtue's self may too much zeal be had : The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.— POPE — Horace. Bk. I. Ep. VI. L. 26.
I have more zeal than wit.— POPE — Imitations of Horace. Bk. II. Satire VI. L. 56.
Poets heap virtues, painters gems, at will, And show their zeal, and hide their want of skill.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. II. L. 185.
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. III. L. 261.
We do that in our zeal our calmer moment would be afraid to answer.— SCOTT — Woodstock. Heading of Ch. XVII.
Blinder Eifer schadet nur. Blind zeal can only do harm.— LICHTWER — Die Katzen und der
Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes. Everything is for the best in this best of possible worlds.— VOLTAIRE — Candide. I.
Was ist ihm nun die Welt? ein weiter leerer Raum, Fortunen's Spielraum, frei ihr Rad herum zu rollen. What is the world to him now? a vast and vacant space, for fortune's wheel to roll about at will.— WIELAND — Oberon. VIII. 20.
Eppur si muove. But it does move.— GALILEO — Before the Inquisition. 1632.
Il mondo è un bel libro, ma poco serve a chi non lo sa leggere. The world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot read it.— GOLDONI — Pamela. I. 14.
Vien dietro a me, e lascia dir le genti. Come, follow me, and leave the world to its babblings.— DANTE — Purgatorio. V. 13.