James Thomson (poet): Trending quotes

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

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 1-3.

Autumn

“A pleasing land of drowsyhed it was,
Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,
Forever flushing round a summer sky:
There eke the soft delights that witchingly
Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast,
And the calm pleasures always hover'd nigh;
But whate'er smack'd of noyance or unrest
Was far, far off expell'd from this delicious nest.”

James Thomson (poet) The Castle of Indolence

Canto I, Stanza 6.
The Castle of Indolence (1748)

Pleasure , Dreams , Summer

“The best of men have ever loved repose:
They hate to mingle in the filthy fray;
Where the soul sours, and gradual rancour grows,
Imbitter'd more from peevish day to day.”

James Thomson (poet) The Castle of Indolence

Canto I, Stanza 17.
The Castle of Indolence (1748)

Love , Men , Hate , Soul

“But yonder comes the powerful king of day,
Rejoicing in the east.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Summer (1727), l. 81.

“Sighed and looked unutterable things.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Summer (1727), l. 1188.

“A little, round, fat, oily man of God.”

James Thomson (poet) The Castle of Indolence

Canto I, Stanza 69.
The Castle of Indolence (1748)

God

“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 (poet) The Castle of Indolence

Canto II, Stanza 3.
The Castle of Indolence (1748)

Children , Health , Nature

“Who stemm'd the torrent of a downward age.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Summer (1727), l. 1515.

Age

“But who can paint
Like Nature? Can imagination boast,
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers?”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Spring (1728), l. 465.

Imagination , Nature , Painting

“So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Summer (1727), l. 1346.

World , Beauty

“They who are pleased themselves must always please.”

James Thomson (poet) The Castle of Indolence

Canto I, Stanza 15.
The Castle of Indolence (1748)

“From seeming evil still educing good.”

James Thomson (poet)

Source: Hymn (1730), line 114.

Education , Evil

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

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Spring (1728), l. 71-73.

Beauty , Art , Nature

“Come, gentle Spring! ethereal mildness, come.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Spring (1728), l. 1.

Spring

“For still the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh,
Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 233.

World

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

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Spring (1728), l. 1158-1161.

Life , Friendship , Books

“The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Winter (1726), l. 625.

Kiss

“Poor is the triumph o’er the timid hare!
Scared from the corn, and now to some lone seat
Retired”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 71-73.

“A bard here dwelt, more fat than bard becomes
Who void of envy, guile and lust of gain,
On virtue still and nature's pleasing themes
Poured forth his unpremeditated strain.”

James Thomson (poet) The Castle of Indolence

Canto I, Stanza 68. (Last line said to be "writ by a friend of the author.").
The Castle of Indolence (1748)

Nature , Envy

“Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears
Her snaky crest.”

James Thomson (poet) The Seasons

Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Spring (1728), l. 996.