Some men are more interesting than their books but my book is more interesting than its man.
A. E. HOUSMANYou smile upon your friend to-day, To-day his ills are over; You hearken to the lover’s say, And happy is the lover. ‘Tis late to hearken, late to smile, But better late than never: I shall have lived a little while Before I die for ever.
More A. E. Housman Quotes
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I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat.
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The troubles of our proud and angry dust are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.
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Experience has taught me, when I am shaving of a morning, to keep watch over my thoughts, because, if a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act.
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Oh, ’tis jesting, dancing, drinking Spins the heavy world around.
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Tell me not here, it needs not saying, What tune the enchantress plays In aftermaths of soft September Or under blanching mays, For she and I were long acquainted And I knew all her ways.
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I find Cambridge an asylum, in every sense of the word.
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Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure.
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Look not in my eyes, for fear They mirror true the sight I see, And there you find your face too clear And love it and be lost like me.
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Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour, He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower Its strength, and struck.
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Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.
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Good religious poetry… is likely to be most justly appreciated and most discriminately relished by the undevout.
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The fairies break their dances And leave the printed lawn.
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And silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears.
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This is for all ill-treated fellows Unborn and unbegot, For them to read when they’re in trouble And I am not.
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Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But man’s deceiver Was never mine.
A. E. HOUSMAN