Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYGovernment is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYA single word even may be a spark of inextinguishable thought.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYWhen the lamp is shattered The light in the dust lies dead – When the cloud is scattered The rainbow’s glory is shed.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYPoets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYThis lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYLife and the world, or whatever we call that which we are and feel, is an astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us the wonder of our being. We are struck with admiration at some of its transient modifications, but it is itself the great miracle.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYO, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYThe great instrument of moral good is the imagination.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYI love tranquil solitude And such society As is quiet, wise, and good.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYAway, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs, – To the silent wilderness, Where the soul need not repress Its music.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYAll of us who are worth anything, spend our manhood in unlearning the follies, or expiating the mistakes of our youth.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYI wish no living thing to suffer pain.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYThe man of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYSometimes it’s better to put love into hugs than to put it into words. Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYLove’s very pain is sweet, But its reward is in the world divine Which, if not here, it builds beyond the grave.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYI have drunken deep of joy, And I will taste no other wine tonight.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY