QUOTATIONS FROM THE COLONIAL ERA
"it is the great parent of science & of virtue: and that a nation will be great in both, always in proportion as it is free."
--Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Willard, March 24, 1789 -- The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827
"our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
--Thomas Jefferson to Dr. James Currie, January 28, 1786 -- The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827
"I have often thought that nothing would do more extensive good at small expense than the establishment of a small circulating library in every county, to consist of a few well-chosen books, to be lent to the people of the country under regulations as would secure their safe return in due time."
--Thomas Jefferson to John Wyche, May 19, 1809 -- The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827
"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead & rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.
--Benjamin Franklin -- The World of Benjamin Franklin
"But dost thou love Life, then do not squander Time, for that's the stuff life is made of."
--Benjamin Franklin -- The World of Benjamin Franklin
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
--Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
POETRY FROM THE REGENCY ERA
A Toyman's Address
(from The Lady's Magazine,
November, 1816)
SMILING girls, rosy boys,
Here --- Come buy my little toys,
Mighty men of gingerbread
Crowd my stall, with faces red;
And melting maidens you behold
Lie about them, all in gold;
And see, the sun shines passing fair,
And breezes wanton with their hair.
Smiling girls, rosy boys,
Hasten --- buy my little toys.
Here are babiess ripe for play;
Pipes to warble care away;
Houses to be shifted hence;
And trunks to fill with weekly pence;
And plumed horses all a-row;
Was ever seen so fair a shew?
Smiling girls, rosy boys,
Hasten --- buy my little toys,
Now a windmill strikes your view,
Whose sails do split the air in two,
And go so gaily round and round,
The scene resembles fairy ground,
And lo! lie panting in the sun,
My troop of warriors, every one;
Rise men of might! behold they rise,
And wave their weapons in the skies!
Smiling girls, rosy boys,
Hasten --- buy my little toys,
Raised on high, above the rest,
See the eagle in his nest;
Among the stars --- you see them shine --
He builds his residence divine!
Oft his flaming eyes he raises
Where the sun obliquely blazes;
So bright they beam, I ween their ray,
Outvies the splendour of the day;
Now your languid eye reposes
On beds of artificial roses;
Steamy hues of red and white,
Laugh about them --- feast your sight.
Smiling girls, and rosy boys,
Hasten --- buy my little toys.
All my toys are not told o'er,
I could number thousands more;
See, lie sprinkled here and there,
Helmet, gaberdine, and spear;
And, swift as sunny sparkles lo!
Armed horsemen round them go.
It seems as if a fight had been
To dignify the mimic scene!
Here's a gun, that, with a spring,
Shoots bloodless bullets --- pretty thing!
And boist'rous drum, and dulcet lute,
Are spread about, but they are mute,
Buy them! Let their mingling sound
Cleave the air, and shake the ground!
Now in coaches you behold,
Ladies bright and barons bold.
See, the coachman waves his whip,
O'er each steed's far-spreading hip ---
It seems a snake, that coils about,
Or smoke, from chimney dancing out,
It crackles o'er them, now, like thunder,
And fierce they plunge in senseless
wonder;
Here are kings, high heaven raises,
Trumpets, too, to sound their praises,
Smiling girls, and rosy boys,
Hasten --- buy my little toys.
G. N.
Love's Philosphy
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle -
Why not I with thine?
See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?
QUOTATIONS & POETRY FROM THE VICTORIAN ERA
All thoughts, all passions, all delights,Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,And feed his sacred flame. --Love(excerpt)
-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1812-1870)
Beautiful City
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Beautiful city, the centre and crater of European confusion,
O you with your passionate shriek for the rights of an equal
humanity,
How often your Re-volution has proven but E-volution
Roll’d again back on itself in the tides of a civic insanity!
"You were made perfectly to be loved, and surely I have loved you, in the idea of you, my whole life long."
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
"Love is a portion of the soul itself, and it is of the same nature as the celestial breathing of the atmosphere of paradise."
-- Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
"What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!"
-- Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
