Ale, man, ale’s the stuff to drink for fellows whom it hurts to think.
A. E. HOUSMANAll knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use.
More A. E. Housman Quotes
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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.
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Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, and we were young.
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I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat.
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And silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears.
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There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
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Do not ever read books about versification: no poet ever learnt it that way. If you are going to be a poet, it will come to you naturally and you will pick up all you need from reading poetry.
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Stone, steel, dominions pass, Faith too, no wonder; So leave alone the grass That I am under.
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When the journey’s over, There’ll be time enough to sleep.
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The average man, if he meddles with criticism at all, is a conservative critic.
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All knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use.
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The thoughts of others Were light and fleeting, Of lovers’ meeting Or luck or fame. Mine were of trouble, And mine were steady; So I was ready When trouble came.
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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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And how am I to face the odds Of man’s bedevilment and God’s? I, a stranger and afraid In a world I never made.
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The laws of God, the laws of man, He may keep that will and can; Not I: let God and man decree Laws for themselves and not for me.
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There, like the wind through woods in riot, Through him the gale of life blew high; The tree of man was never quiet: Then ’twas the Roman, now ’tis I.
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In every American there is an air of incorrigible innocence, which seems to conceal a diabolical cunning.
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And malt does more than Milton can to justify God’s ways to man.
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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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Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover; Breath’s aware that will not keep. Up, lad: when the journey’s over then there’ll be time enough to sleep.
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Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough.
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The house of delusions is cheap to build but drafty to live in.
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Oh I have been to Ludlow fair, and left my necktie God knows where. And carried half way home, or near, pints and quarts of Ludlow beer.
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Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
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Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But man’s deceiver Was never mine.
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Some men are more interesting than their books but my book is more interesting than its man.
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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.
A. E. HOUSMAN