Only the wise possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them. Sympathy constitutes friendship; but in love there is a sort of antipathy, or opposing passion. Each strives to be the other, and both together make up one whole. Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind. A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory. All thoughts, all passions, all delights, whatever stirs this mortal frame, all are but ministers of love, and feed his sacred flame. And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility. Friendship is a sheltering tree. It was a miracle of rare device, a sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry. Our own heart, and not other men's opinion, forms our true honor. |