The Works of the English Poets: With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, Volumes 50-52

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Samuel Johnson
C. Bathurst, 1779

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Page 1 - tis madness to defer ; Next day the fatal precedent will plead ; Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life. Procrastination is the thief of time ; Year after year it steals, till all are fled, And to the mercies of a moment leaves The vast concerns of an eternal scene.
Page 31 - How empty learning, and how vain is art, But as it mends the life, and guides the heart!
Page 5 - Youth is not rich in time ; it may be poor ; Part with it as with money, sparing ; pay No moment, but in purchase of its worth ; And what its worth ask death-beds ; they can tell.
Page 123 - Enjoy the various riches nature yields ; Far nobler ! give the riches they enjoy ; Give taste to fruits ; and harmony to groves ; Their radiant beams to gold, and gold's bright...
Page 45 - And soon as man, expert from time, has found The key of life, it opes the gates of death.
Page 264 - We take no note of time But from its loss. To give it then a tongue Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke, I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright, It is the knell of my departed hours : Where are they ? With the years beyond the flood.
Page 15 - Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours ; And ask them, what report they bore to heaven : And how they might have borne more welcome news.
Page 226 - All the black cares and tumults of this life, Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet, Excite his pity, not impair his peace.
Page 59 - Religion's All. Descending from the skies To wretched man, the goddess in her left Holds out this world, and, in her right, the next...
Page 35 - Our dying friends come o'er us like a cloud, To damp our brainless ardours, and abate That glare of life which often blinds the wise. Our dying friends are pioneers, to smooth...

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