Anna Laetitia Barbauld

“Let us confess a truth, humiliating perhaps to human pride;—a very small part only of the opinions of the coolest philosopher are the result of fair reasoning; the rest are formed by his education, his temperament, by the age in which he lives, by trains of thought directed to a particular track through some accidental association—in short, by prejudice.”

“It is, in truth, the most absurd of all suppositions, that a human being can be educated, or even nourished and brought up, without imbibing numberless prejudices from every thing which passes around him.”

“We may think all religions beneficial, and believe of one alone that it is true.”

“If an author would have us feel a strong degree of compassion, his characters must not be too perfect.”

“It would be difficult to determine whether the age is growing better or worse; for I think our plays are growing like sermons, and our sermons like plays.”

“So fades a summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o’er;So gently shuts the eye of day; So dies a wave along the shore.”

“Life! we've been long together,Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;'Tis hard to part when friends are dear,;br>Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear;Then steal away, give little warning,Choose thine own time;Say not Good night, but in some brighter climeBid me Good morning.”

“So when destruction lurks unseen, Which men like mice may share, May some kind angel clear thy path, And break the hidden snare.”

“The cheerful light, the vital air, Are blessings widely given; Let nature's commoners enjoyThe common gifts of heaven.{{pbr}}The well-taught philosophic mindTo all compassion gives; Casts round the world an equal eye, And feels for all that lives.{{pbr}}If mind, as ancient sages taught, A never dying flame, Still shifts thro' matter's varying forms, In every form the same,{{pbr}} Beware, lest in the worm you crush A brother's soul you find; And tremble lest thy luckless hand Dislodge a kindred mind.”

“If e'er thy breast with freedom glow'd, And spurn'd a tyrant's chain, Let not thy strong oppressive forceA free-born mouse detain.”

“Oh! hear a pensive captive's prayer, For liberty that sighs; And never let thine heart be shutAgainst the prisoner's cries.”

“This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,And Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.”

“With Thee in shady solitudes I walk,With Thee in busy, crowded cities talk,In every creature own Thy forming power,In each event Thy providence adore.”

“I read his awful name, emblazon'd highWith golden letters on th' illumin'd sky.”

“Flowers, the sole luxury which nature knew,In Eden's pure and guiltless garden grew.[…]Gay without toil, and lovely without art,They spring to cheer the sense, and glad the heart.”

“It is to hope, tho' hope were lost.”

“O gently guide my pilgrim feetTo find thy hermit cell;Where in some pure and equal skyBeneath thy soft indulgent eyeThe modest virtues dwell.”

“Man is the nobler growth our realms supply,And souls are ripen'd in our northern sky.”

“Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping?”