Quotes
Quotes about Joy
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty.
Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures.
War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble;
Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying.
If all the world be worth the winning,
Think, oh think it worth enjoying:
Lovely Thais sits beside thee,
Take the good the gods provide thee.
I can enjoy her while she's kind;
But when she dances in the wind,
And shakes the wings and will not stay,
I puff the prostitute away.
When I consider life, 't is all a cheat.
Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay.
To-morrow's falser than the former day;
Lies worse, and while it says we shall be blest
With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give.
O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee
To temper man: we had been brutes without you.
Angels are painted fair, to look like you:
There's in you all that we believe of heaven,--
Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,
Eternal joy, and everlasting love.
How fading are the joys we dote upon!
Like apparitions seen and gone.
But those which soonest take their flight
Are the most exquisite and strong,--
Like angels' visits, short and bright;
Mortality's too weak to bear them long.
Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
Lie in three words,--health, peace, and competence.
The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy.
Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
One self-approving hour whole years outweighs
Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas;
And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels
Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels.
In parts superior what advantage lies?
Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise?
'T is but to know how little can be known;
To see all others' faults, and feel our own.
Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide,
Or gave his father grief but when he died.
For he lives twice who can at once employ
The present well, and e'en the past enjoy.
These riches are possess'd, but not enjoy'd!
And taste
The melancholy joy of evils past:
For he who much has suffer'd, much will know.
Note 61.Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est
Vivere bis vita posse priore frui
(The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice).--Martial, x. 237.
See Cowley, Quotation 21.
Of joys departed,
Not to return, how painful the remembrance!
Base Envy withers at another's joy,
And hates that excellence it cannot reach.
Here you would know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years.
If solid happiness we prize,
Within our breast this jewel lies,
And they are fools who roam.
The world has nothing to bestow;
From our own selves our joys must flow,
And that dear hut, our home.
Thus hand in hand through life we 'll go;
Its checker'd paths of joy and woe
With cautious steps we 'll tread.
How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!
Still to ourselves in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find.
With secret course, which no loud storms annoy,
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.
I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.
They hear a voice in every wind,
And snatch a fearful joy.
Nor peace nor ease the heart can know
Which, like the needle true,
Turns at the touch of joy or woe,
But turning, trembles too.
Seeks painted trifles and fantastic toys,
And eagerly pursues imaginary joys.
And e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks if this be joy.
