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“Good-night; ensured release, Imperishable peace, Have these for yours, While sea abides, and land, And earth's foundations stand, And heaven endures.”
A. E. Housman (1859–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lord, give me the capacity of never praying, spare me the insanity of all worship, let this temptation of love pass from me which would deliver me forever unto You. Let the void spread between my heart and heaven! I have no desire to people my deserts by Your presence, to tyrannize my nights by Your light, to dissolve my Siberias beneath Your sun.”
Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But cowards shall forget to rant, Schoolboys to frig, old whores to paint; The Jesuits’ fraternity Shall leave the use of buggery; Crab-louse, inspired with grace divine, From earthly cod to heaven shall climb; Physicians shall believe in Jesus, And disobedience cease to please us, Ere I desist with all my power To plague this woman and undo her.”
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) said by 1680 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So to live is heaven: To make undying music in the world, Breathing a beauteous order that controls With growing sway the growing life of man.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lawyer's dream of heaven: every man reclaimed his own property at the resurrection, and each tried to recover it from all his forefathers.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler, compiled and edited by A. T. Bartholomew (1934), p. 27
“Heaven is the work of the best and kindest men and women. Hell is the work of prigs, pedants and professional truth-tellers. The world is an attempt to make the best of both.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since heaven's eternal year is thine.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1686 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Pious Memory of Mrs. Anne Killegrew (1686), l. 15
“So softly death succeeded life in her, She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1692 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eleonora (1692), l. 315
“Nor can his blessed soul look down from heaven, Or break the eternal sabbath of his rest.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And heaven had wanted one immortal song. But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine, The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I loved him as young Genius loves, When its own wild and radiant heaven Of starry thought burns with the light, The love, the life, by passion given. I loved him, too, as woman loves-- Reckless of sorrow, sin, or scorn: Life had no evil destiny That, with him, I could not have borne!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well may storm be on the sky, And the waters roll on high, When MANMADIN passes by. Earth below and heaven above Well may bend to thee, oh Love!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1822 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Manmadin, The Indian Cupid. Floating down the Ganges from The London Literary Gazette (14th December 1822) Fragments in Rhyme VII
“—for earth were too like heaven, If length of life to love were given.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I LOVED her! ay, I would have given A death-bed certainty of heaven If I had thought it could confer The least of happiness on her!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And all o'er heaven is that clear blue The stars so love to wander through. They're rising from the silent deep, Like bright eyes opening after sleep.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Tis this which makes The best assurance of our promised heaven: This triumph intellect has over death— Our words yet live on others' lips; our thoughts Actuate others. Can that man be dead Whose spiritual influence is upon his kind?”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was a sculptured form; the feet were placed Upon a finely-carved rose wreath; the arms Were raised to Heaven, as if to clasp the stars EULALIA leant beside; 'twas hard to say Which was the actual marble: when she spoke, You started, scarce it seem'd a human sound; But the eyes' lustre told life linger'd still; And now the moonlight seem'd to fill their depths.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great Heaven ! what vain beliefs Have stirred the pulse and led the hopes of man ! As if that honour could be bought by blood, And that the fierce right hand was better worth Than the fine mind, and high and generous heart !—”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The present—the actual—were they our all— Too heavy our burthen, too hopeless our thrall; But heaven, that spreadeth o'er all its blue cope, Hath given us memory,—hath given us hope!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The past! ah, we owe it a tenderer debt, Heaven's own sweetest mercy is not to forget; Its influence softens the present, and flings A grace, like the ivy, wherever it clings.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Youth is too eager, forth it flings Itself upon exulting wings, Which seek the heaven they ask too near— One wild flight ends the bright career; With broken wing and darkened eye, Earth claims again its own to die.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A light is gone from yonder sky, A star has left its sphere; The beautiful--and do they die In yon bright world as here? Will that star leave a lonely place, A darkness on the night?— No; few will miss its lovely face, And none think heaven less bright!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1828 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Lost Star from The Literary Souvenir, 1828
“But give me one curl of thy raven hair, And, by all thy hopes in heaven, swear That, chance what may thou wilt claim thy bride, And thou to-morrow shall lie by my side.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Glory of earth, and light from heaven, Young Genius ! but for thee, And the wild wonders to thee given, How base our earth would be !”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (19th May 1827) Genius
“Statues to whose rest seem'd given Not the life of earth but heaven ; For each statue here enshrined What in the immortal mind Makes its beauty and its power — Genius's eternal dower :”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1831 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (25th June 1831) The Hall of Statues
“The clouds, and not the stars, to them The omen and the sign be given— The clouds, the vapours of our soil, Not stars, whose element is heaven. The deepening shade, the flitting light, Mark what each coming month will know— The passing joy, the constant care, Of life's sad pilgrimage below.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take ye my solemn farewell ! O, my friends, Already night is darkening on my eyes ;— But is not Heaven most beautiful by night ? Thousands of stars shine in the kindling sky, Which is an azure desert during day. Thus do the gathering of eternal shades Reveal innumerable thoughts, half lost In the full daylight of prosperity.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The little wind-flower, whose just opened eye Is blue as the spring heaven it gazes at.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Winter Piece, st. 3 (1821)
“Thine eyes are springs in whose serene And silent waters heaven is seen; Their lashes are the herbs that look On their young figures in the brook.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oh Fairest of the Rural Maids", st. 4 (1820)
“Oh, sun! that o'er the western mountains now Goest down in glory! ever beautiful And blessed is thy radiance, whether thou Colourest the eastern heaven and night-mist cool, Till the bright day-star vanish, or on high Climbest and streamest thy white splendours from mid-sky.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Walk At Sunset, st. 2 (1821)
“As the great eye of heaven, shyned bright, And made a sunshine in the shady place.”
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) said by 1599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And is there care in Heaven? And is there love In heavenly spirits to these Creatures bace?”
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) said by 1599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“NAY, weep not, dearest, though the child be dead; He lives again in Heaven's unclouded life,”
John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Severe and saintly righteousness Composed the clear white bridal dress; Jesus, the Son of Heaven's high King Bought with his blood the marriage ring”
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) said by 1834 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our time is fixed, and all our days are number'd; How long, how short, we know not:—this we know, Duty requires we calmly wait the summons, Nor dare to stir till Heaven shall give permission.”
Robert Blair (1699–1746) said by 1746 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Drawing near her death, she sent most pious thoughts as harbingers to heaven; and her soul saw a glimpse of happiness through the chinks of her sickness-broken body.”
Thomas Fuller (1608–1661) first seen 1642 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Life of Monica (1642)
“The bitterest creature under heaven is the wife who discovers that her husband’s bravery is only bravado, that his strength is only a uniform, that his power is but a gun in the hands of a fool.”
Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mind that thought of light, heavy, grey, yellow, still, swift also conceived of magic that would make heavy things light and able to fly, turn grey lead into yellow gold, and the still rock into a swift water. If it could do the one, it could do the other; it inevitably did both. When we can take green from grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power.”
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[...] we left the last hint of polar land behind us and thanked heaven that we were clear of a haunted, accursed realm where life and death, space and time, have made black and blasphemous alliances, in the unknown epochs since matter first writhed and swam on the planet's scarce-cooled crust.”
H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O, human love! thou spirit given, On Earth, of all we hope in Heaven!”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tamerlane", l. 177 (1884).
“And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes, Heaven is thine; but this Is a world of sweets and sours; Our flowers are merely—flowers.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) first seen 1831 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Israfel", st. 7 (1831).
“Thank Heaven! the crisis — The danger is past, And the lingering illness Is over at last — And the fever called "Living" Is conquered at last.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: For Annie", st. 1 (1849).
“You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead—dead to the World, to Heaven and to Hope! In me didst thou exist—and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love — I and my Annabel Lee — With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven Coveted her and me.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we — Of many far wiser than we — And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1772 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Bradford (9 November 1772)
“There is no question that religions have historically played the role of making people contented with their lot. ...such a doctrine would be very appealing to the ruling classes of a society. ...Many societies, for this reason alone, encourage the contentment with your lot that the religious premise of heaven affords.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then, as you stand or walk, Sit or lie down, As long as you are awake, Strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth.”
Gautama Buddha (501–501 BC) said by 501 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Passages of the Metta Sutta from the Sutta Nipata translated as "Discourse on Good Will" in the anthology God Makes the Rivers to Flow (1982; 2009), by Eknath Easwaran; also included in the anthology Timeless Wisdom (20…