Thomas Gray Quotes

90 Sourced Quotes

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Thomas Gray
To each his suff'rings: all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain;
Th' unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies.
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.

Thomas Gray
Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!
Confusion on thy banners wait,
Though fanned by Conquest's crimson wing
They mock the air with idle state.

Thomas Gray
What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know,
And from her own she learned to melt at others' woe.

Thomas Gray
'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers, that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima reclined,
Gazed on the lake below.

Thomas Gray
Her track, where'er the goddess roves,
Glory pursue, and gen'rous shame,
Th' unconquerable mind, 3 and freedom's holy flame.

Thomas Gray
In glittering arms and glory dressed,
High he rears his ruby crest.
There the thundering strokes begin,
There the press and there the din;
Talymalfra's rocky shore
Echoing to the battle's roar.

Thomas Gray
As sickly plants betray a niggard earth,
Whose barren bosom starves her gen'rous birth.

Thomas Gray
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Thomas Gray
Weave the warp, and weave the woof,
The winding sheet of Edward's race.
Give ample room and verge enough,
The Characters of hell to trace.

Thomas Gray
No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,)
The bosom of his Father and his God.

Thomas Gray
Helm nor hauberk's twisted mail,
Nor even thy virtues, tyrant, shall avail
To save thy secret soul from nightly fears,
From Cambria's curse, from Cambria's tears!

Thomas Gray
And moody madness laughing wild
Amid severest woe.

Thomas Gray
When love could teach a monarch to be wise,
And gospel-light first dawn'd from Bullen's eyes.

Thomas Gray
From toil he wins his spirits light,
From busy day the peaceful night;
Rich, from the very want of wealth,
In heaven's best treasures, peace and health.

Thomas Gray
Loose his beard, and hoary hair
Streamed, like a meteor, to the troubled air.

Thomas Gray
Some bold adventurers disdain The limits of their little reign, And unknown regions date descry.

Thomas Gray
One principal characteristic of vice in the present age is the contempt of fame.

Thomas Gray
The insect-youth are on the wing,
Eager to taste the honied spring,
And float amid the liquid noon!

Thomas Gray
There are certain scenes that would awe an atheist into belief without the help of any other argument.

Thomas Gray
O'er her warm cheek and rising bosom move
The bloom of young Desire and purple light of Love.

Thomas Gray
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune,
He had not the method of making a fortune.

Thomas Gray
One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
Along the heath, and near his fav'rite tree:
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.

Thomas Gray
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Thomas Gray
In buskined measures move Pale Grief and pleasing Pain, With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast.

Thomas Gray