Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landorwas an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity. As remarkable as his work was, it was equalled by his rumbustious character and lively temperament...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth30 January 1775
incense ashes burn-out
No ashes are lighter than those of incense, and few things burn out sooner.
men law law-and-justice
Many laws as certainly make bad men, as bad men make many laws.
men greatness gains
Great men lose somewhat of their greatness by being near us; ordinary men gain much.
principles morality ethics
Principles do not mainly influence even the principled; we talk on principle, but we act on interest.
offending language flattery
The habit of pleasing by flattery makes a language soft; the fear of offending by truth makes it circuitous and conventional.
competition moral checks
Every sect is a moral check on its neighbour. Competition is as wholesome in religion as in commerce.
cat want asks
Cats ask plainly for what they want.
life sweet eye
Many love music but for music's sake, Many because her touches can awake Thoughts that repose within the breast half-dead, And rise to follow where she loves to lead. What various feelings come from days gone by! What tears from far-off sources dim the eye! Few, when light fingers with sweet voices play, And melodies swell, pause, and melt away, Mind how at every touch, at every tone, A spark of life hath glistened and hath gone.
wise power political
The wise become as the unwise in the enchanted chambers of Power, whose lamps make every face the same colour.
fear ears whispering
Death stands above me, whispering low I know not what into my ear; Of his strange language all I know Is, there is not a word of fear.
death age quiet
O what a thing is age! Death without death's quiet.
mind unhappy praise
An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof. If you reject it you are unhappy, if you accept it you are undone.
conceited thinking religion
Even the weakest disputant is made so conceited by what he calls religion, as to think himself wiser than the wisest who thinks differently from him.
wisdom men two
Two evils, of almost equal weight, may befall the man of erudition; never to be listened to, and to be listened to always.