“And I myself a Catholic will be, So far at least, great saint, to pray to thee. Hail, Bard triumphant! and some care bestow On us, the Poets militant below.”

When Israel was from bondage led,Led by the Almighty’s handFrom out of foreign land,The great sea beheld and fled.

Nothing in Nature’s sober found, But an eternal Health goes round. Fill up the Bowl then, fill it high

This a scene of changes, and to be constant in Nature were inconstancy.

Curs’d be that wretch (Death’s factor sure) who brought Dire swords into the peaceful world, and taught Smiths (who before could only make.

Hope! fortune’s cheating lottery; when for one prize an hundred blanks there be!

To-day is ours; what do we fear? To-day is ours; we have it here. Let’s treat it kindly, that it may Wish, at least, with us to stay.

Ah! Wretched and too solitary he who loves not his own company.

As for being much known by sight, and pointed out, I cannot comprehend the honor that lies withal; whatsoever it be, every mountebank has it more than the best doctor.

The liberty of a people consists in being governed by laws which they have made themselves, under whatsoever form it be of government

I might be master at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my life to the culture of them and the study of nature.

Nature waits upon thee still, And thy verdant cup does fill; ‘Tis fill’d wherever thou dost tread, Nature’s self’s thy Ganymede.

Beauty, thou wild fantastic ape Who dost in every country change thy shape!

When Harvey’s violent passion she did see, Began to tremble and to flee; Took sanctuary, like Daphne, in a tree

Fill the bowl with rosy wine, around our temples roses twine, And let us cheerfully awhile, like wine and roses, smile.

God the first garden made, and the first city Cain.

The world’s a scene of changes.

Leave aside your regrets of the past and anxieties of the future And focus intelligently on the present. This is the best way of ensuring a positive future.

I was never going to be a doctor or a lawyer, so being a musician seemed to be the best of what was on offer.

You learn all the best stuff in life after you leave school.

If I didn’t swim my best, I’d think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy.

Eddie Cochran – I never got to see him live, but he could play. Him and Buddy Holly, they were the best guitarists. They could get a good raunchy beat going.

If you try to fight the course, it will beat you.

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.

I learned early in sports that to be effective – for a player to play the best he can play – is a matter of concentration and being unaware of distractions, positive or negative.