61 Arthur Hugh Clough Quotes

Arthur Hugh Clough quotes

1. 'Twas on a sunny summer day I trod a mighty city's street, And when I started on my way My heart was full of fancies sweet; But soon, as nothing could be seen, But countenances sharp and keen, Nought heard or seen around but told Of something bought or something sold, And none that seemed to think or care That any save himself was there.

2. Truth is a golden thread, seen here and there In small bright specks upon the visible side Of our strange being's party-coloured web.

3. Come back again, old heart! Ah me! Methinks in those thy coward fears There might, perchance, a courage be, That fails in these the manlier years; Courage to let the courage sink, Itself a coward base to think, Rather than not for heavenly light Wait on to show the truly right.

4. Thought may well be ever ranging, And opinion ever changing, Task-work be, though ill begun, Dealt with by experience better; By the law and by the letter Duty done is duty done Do it, Time is on the wing!

5. Loving-if the answering breast Seem not to be thus possessed, Still in hoping have a care; If it do, beware, beware! But if in yourself you find it, Above all things-mind it, mind it!

6. When panting sighs the bosom fill, And hands by chance united thrill At once with one delicious pain The pulses and the nerves of twain; When eyes that erst could meet with ease, Do seek, yet, seeking, shyly shun Ecstatic conscious unison,- The sure beginnings, say, be these Prelusive to the strain of love Which angels sing in heaven above?

7. Thy duty do? rejoined the voice, Ah, do it, do it, and rejoice; But shalt thou then, when all is done, Enjoy a love, embrace a beauty Like these, that may be seen and won In life, whose course will then be run; Or wilt thou be where there is none? I know not, I will do my duty.

8. Grace is given of God, but knowledge is bought in the market; Knowledge needful for all, yet cannot be had for the asking.

9. A world where nothing is had for nothing.

10. There is a great Field-Marshal, my friend, who arrays our battalions; Let us to Providence trust, and abide and work in our stations.

11. So in the sinful streets, abstracted and alone, I with my secret self held communing of mine own.

12. Hope conquers cowardice, joy grief; Or at least, faith unbelief.

13. Alas! the great world goes its way, And takes its truth from each new day; They do not quit, nor can retain, Far less consider it again.

14. Where lies the land to which the ship would go? Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know. And where the land she travels from? Away, Far, far behind, is all that they can say.

15. Go; say not in thy heart, And what then were it accomplished, Were the wild impulse allayed, what were the use or the good! Go, when the instinct is stilled, and when the deed is accomplished, What thou bast done and shalt do, shall be declared to thee then. Go with the sun and the stars, and yet evermore in thy spirit Say to thyself: It is good: yet is there better than it. This that I see is not all, and this that I do is but little; Nevertheless it is good, though there is better than it.

16. And almost every one when age, Disease, or sorrows strike him, Inclines to think there is a God, Or something very like Him.

17. Trust me, I've read your German sage To far more purpose e'er than you did; You find it in his wisest page, Whom God deludes is well deluded.

18. I sit at my table en grand seigneur, And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor; Not only the pleasure, one's self, of good living, But also the pleasure of now and then giving. So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! So pleasant it is to have money.

19. 'There is no God,' the wicked saith, 'And truly it's a blessing, For what He might have done with us It's better only guessing.'

20. Say not the struggle nought availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain, The enemy faints not, nor faileth, And as things have been, things remain.

21. For while the tired waves vainly breaking Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

22. In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, But westward, look, the land is bright.

23. No graven images may be Worshipped, except the currency.

24. Honour thy parents; that is, all From whom advancement may befall: Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive Officiously to keep alive.

25. Thou shalt not covet, but tradition Approves all forms of competition.

26. I watched them from the window, thy children at their play, And I thought of all my own dear friends, who were far, oh, far away, And childish loves, and childish cares, and a child's own buoyant gladness Came gushing back again to me with a soft and solemn sadness; And feelings frozen up full long, and thoughts of long ago, Seemed to be thawing at my heart with a warm and sudden flow.

27. Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane, East wind and frost are safely gone; With zephyr mild and balmy rain The summer comes serenely on; Earth, air, and sun and skies combine To promise all that's kind and fair:- But thou, O human heart of mine, Be still, contain thyself, and bear.

28. Our ills are worse than at their ease These blameless happy souls suspect, They only study the disease, Alas, who live not to detect.

29. Each for himself is still the rule We learn it when we go to school- The devil take the hindmost, O!

30. O tell me, friends, while yet we part, And heart can yet be heard of heart, O tell me then, for what is it Our early plan of life we quit; From all our old intentions range, And why does all so wholly change? O tell me, friends, while yet we part!

31. My wind is turned to bitter north, That was so soft a south before; My sky, that shone so sunny bright, With foggy gloom is clouded o'er My gay green leaves are yellow-black, Upon the dank autumnal floor; For love, departed once, comes back No more again, no more.

32. 'Tis possible, young sir, that some excess Mars youthful judgment and old men's no less; Yet we must take our counsel as we may For (flying years this lesson still convey), 'Tis worst unwisdom to be overwise, And not to use, but still correct one's eyes.

33. Dance on, dance on, we see, we see Youth goes, alack, and with it glee, A boy the old man ne'er can be; Maternal thirty scarce can find The sweet sixteen long left behind.

34. As ships becalmed at eve, that lay With canvas drooping, side by side, Two towers of sail, at dawn of day Are scarce, long leagues apart, descried.

1. Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, When it's so lucrative to cheat.

2. Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, When its so lucrative to cheat

3. Rome, believe me, my friend, is like its own Monte Testaceo, Merelya marvellous mass of broken and castaway wine-pots.

4. Old things need not be therefore true, O brother men, nor yet the new; Ah! still awhile the old thought retain, And yet consider it again!

5. Do not adultery commit; Advantage rarely comes of it.

6. Whither depart the souls of the brave that die in the battle, Die in the lost, lost fight, for the cause that perishes with them?

7. How pleasant it is to have money.

8. And almost everyone when age, disease, or sorrows strike him, inclines to think there is a God, or something very like him.

9. Thou shalt have one God only: who Would be at the expense of two?

10. Action will furnish belief,-but will that belief be the true one? This is the point, you know.

11. The highest political buzz word is not liberty, equality, fraternity or solidarity; it is service.

12. Out of sight is out of mind.

13. As I sat at the Cafe I said to myself, They may talk as they please about what they call pelf, They may sneer as they like about eating and drinking, But help it I cannot, I cannot help thinking How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho! How pleasant it is to have money!

14. Allah isgreat, no doubt, and Juxtaposition his prophet.

15. The horrible pleasure of pleasing inferior people.

16. This world is bad enough maybe; We do not comprehend it; But in one fact can all agree God won't, and we can't mend it.

17. Idonot likebeingmoved:for thewill isexcited;andaction Is a most dangerous thing: I tremble for something factitious, Some malpractice of heart and illegitimate process; We are so proneto thesethings with our terrible notions of duty.

18. Well, I know, after all, it is only juxtaposition, Juxtaposition, in short; and what is juxtaposition?

19. If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars.

20. Afloat.We move: Delicious! Ah, What else is like the gondola?

21. That out of sight is out of mind is true of most we leave behind.

22. It fortifies my soul to know That, though I perish, Truth is so: That, howsoe'er I stray and range, Whate'er I do, Thou dost not change. I steadier step when I recall That, if I slip Thou dost not fall.

23. Be but faithful, that is all; Go right on, and close behind thee There shall follow still and find thee Help, sure help.

24. What voice did on my spirit fall, Peschiera, when thy bridge I crost? 'Tis better to have fought and lost That never to have fought at all!

25. “Better a crust of black bread than a mountain of paper confections, Better a daisy in earth than a dahlia cut and gathered, Better a cowslip with root than a prize carnation without it”

26. “For it is beautiful only to do the thing we are meant for”

27. “Ah yet, when all is thought and said, The heart still overrules the head.”