Though with judgment we on things reflect,/ Our will determines, not our intellect.
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become.
Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
If its length be not considered a merit, it hath no other.
What use of oaths, of promise, or of test, where men regard no God but interest?
His love at once and dread instruct our thought; As man He suffer'd and as God He taught.
The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home: Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view That stand upon the threshold of the new.
To man, that was in th' evening made, Stars gave the first delight; Admiring, in the gloomy shade, Those little drops of light.
The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,Lets in new light through chinks that time has made.Stronger by weakness, wiser men become,As they draw near to their eternal home.