“The mortal sickness of a mind too unhappy to be kind.”

I do not choose the right word, I get rid of the wrong one.

When the journey’s over, There’ll be time enough to sleep.

To justify God’s ways to man.

That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, the happy highways where I went and cannot come again.

Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill.

Nature, not content with denying him the ability to think, has endowed him with the ability to write.

Ten thousand times I’ve done my best and all’s to do again.

Give me a land of boughs in leaf A land of trees that stand; Where trees are fallen there is grief; I love no leafless land.

Housman is one of my heroes and always has been. He was a detestable and miserable man. Arrogant, unspeakably lonely, cruel, and so on, but and absolutely marvellous minor poet, I think, and a great scholar.

Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure.

All knots that lovers tie Are tied to sever. Here shall your sweetheart lie, Untrue for ever.

Oh, ’tis jesting, dancing, drinking Spins the heavy world around.

Now hollow fires burn out to black, And lights are guttering low: Square your shoulders, lift your pack And leave your friends and go.

They put arsenic in his meat And stared aghast to watch him eat; They poured strychnine in his cup And shook to see him drink it up.

Some men are more interesting than their books but my book is more interesting than its man.

Earth and high heaven are fixed of old and founded strong.

Unnatural to expect that learning to be happy should be any easier than, say, learning to play the violin or require any less practice.

The only way to be happy is to realise how much depends on how you look at things

Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writers.

I will always serve my country in any capacity, but I’m very happy with what I’m doing right now.

Good sex isn’t just fun, it keeps us sane and happy. Having sex with someone makes us feel wanted, alive and potent.

There is no happiness. There is only concentration.

I was never very happy with performing; it didn’t turn me on much.

If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look.