John Godfrey Saxe Quotes (24 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

As quoted in University Chronicle. University of Michigan (27 March 1869) books.google.de http://books.google.de/books?id=cEHiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA164, Daily Cleveland Herald (29 March 1869), McKean Miner (22 April 1869), and "Quote... Misquote" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/magazine/27wwwl-guestsafire-t.html by Fred R. Shapiro in The New York Times (21 July 2008); similar remarks have long been attributed to Otto von Bismarck, but this is the earliest known quote regarding laws and sausages, and according to Shapiro's research, such remarks only began to be attributed to Bismarck in the 1930s.

“He takes the strangest liberties —
But never takes his leave!”

John Godfrey Saxe

"My Familiar".

“A youth would marry a maiden,
For fair and fond was she;
But he was high and she was low,
And so it might not be.”

John Godfrey Saxe

"The Way of the World".
Variant: A youth would marry a maiden,
For fair and fond was she;
But their sires disputed about the Mass,
And so it might not be.

“T is wise to learn; 't is God-like to create.”

John Godfrey Saxe

"The Library".

“"Once more, my gallant boys!" he cried:
"Three times! — you know the fable, —
(I'll make it thirty," muttered he,
"But I will lay the cable!")”

John Godfrey Saxe

"How Cyrus Laid the Cable".

“I asked of Echo 't other day
(Whose words are few and often funny),
What to a novice she could say
Of courtship, love, and matrimony.
Quoth Echo, plainly, — "Matter-o'-money."”

John Godfrey Saxe

"Echo".

“NAY, weep not, dearest, though the child be dead;
He lives again in Heaven's unclouded life”

John Godfrey Saxe

"Bereavement".

“Again I hear the creaking step! —
He's rapping at the door! —
Too well I know the boding sound
That ushers in a bore.”

John Godfrey Saxe

"My Familiar".

“Don't use strong drink, — pray let me advise, —
It 's bad for the stomach, and ruins the eyes;”

John Godfrey Saxe

"Polyphemus and Ulysses".

“And so these men of Hindustan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right
And all were in the wrong. So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!”

John Godfrey Saxe

"The Blindmen and the Elephant".

“I like the lad who, when his father thought
To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase
Of vagrant worm by early songster caught,
Cried, "Served him right! — it's not at all surprising;
The worm was punished, sir, for early rising!"”

John Godfrey Saxe

"Early Rising"; compare: "The healthy-wealthy-wise affirm, That early birds obtain the worm — (The worm rose early too!)", Frederick Locker-Lampson.

“The Poet's License! — 't is the right,
Within the rule of duty,
To look on all delightful things
Throughout the world of beauty. To gaze with rapture at the stars
That in the skies are glowing;
To see the gems of perfect dye
That in the woods are growing, —
And more than sage astronomer,
And more than learned florist,
To read the glorious homilies
Of Firmament and Forest.”

John Godfrey Saxe

"The Poet's License".
The Masquerade and Other Poems (1866)

“I'm growing fonder of my staff;
I'm growing dimmer in the eyes;
I'm growing fainter in my laugh;
I'm growing deeper in my sighs;
I'm growing careless of my dress;
I'm growing frugal of my gold;
I'm growing wise; I'm growing — yes, —
I'm growing old!”

John Godfrey Saxe

"I'm growin old.

“In vain I speak of urgent tasks;
In vain I scowl and pout;
A frown is no extinguisher —
It does not put him out!”

John Godfrey Saxe

"My Familiar".

“What Lowely meant she didn't know
For she always avoided "everything low,"”

John Godfrey Saxe

"The Proud Miss MacBride".

“God bless the man who first invented sleep!”

John Godfrey Saxe

So Sancho Panza said, and so say I.
"Early Rising".

“When Nature gives a gorgeous rose,
Or yields the simplest fern,
She writes this motto on the leaves, —
"To whom it may concern!"”

John Godfrey Saxe

And so it is the poet comes
And revels in her bowers,
And, — though another hold the land,
Is owner of the flowers.
"The Poet's License".
The Masquerade and Other Poems (1866)