James Thomson (poet) Quotes

52 Sourced Quotes

Whoe'er amidst the sons
Of reason, valour, liberty, and virtue
Displays distinguish'd merit, is a noble
Of Nature's own creating.

James Thomson
Their only labour was to kill the time;
And labour dire it is, and weary woe,
They sit, they loll, turn o'er some idle rhyme,
Then, rising sudden, to the glass they go,
Or saunter forth, with tottering steps and slow.

James Thomson
For loveliness
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament,
But is when unadorned adorned the most.

James Thomson
Let NEWTON, pure Intelligence, whom GOD
To Mortals lent, to trace his boundless Works
From Laws sublimely simple, speak thy Fame
In all Philosophy.

James Thomson
He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd.

James Thomson
He ceased; but still their trembling ears retained
The deep vibrations of his witching song.

James Thomson
But what most showed the vanity of life
Was to behold the nations all on fire.

James Thomson
For many a day, and many a dreadful night,
Incessant lab'ring round the stormy cape.

James Thomson
Welcome, kindred glooms!
Congenial horrors, hail!

James Thomson
Ships dim-discover'd dropping from the clouds.

James Thomson
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs.

James Thomson
Crowned with the sickle, and the wheaten sheaf,
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain,
Comes jovial on.

James Thomson
They who are pleased themselves must always please.

James Thomson
Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare!
Scared from the corn, and now to some lone seat
Retired—

James Thomson
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labour, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven!

James Thomson
See, Winter comes to rule the varied year,
Sullen and sad.

James Thomson
Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears
Her snaky crest.

James Thomson
Come, gentle Spring! ethereal mildness, come.

James Thomson
A little round, fat, oily man of God,
Was one I chiefly marked among the fry:
He had a roguish twinkle in his eye.

James Thomson
The negligence of Nature wide and wild,
Where, undisguised by mimic art, she spreads
Unbounded beauty to the roving eye.

James Thomson
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.

James Thomson
I care not, Fortune, what you me deny;
You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace,
You cannot shut the windows of the sky,
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve.
Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
And I their toys to the great children leave:
Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.

James Thomson