“I cannot talk with civet in the room,
A fine puss-gentleman that's all perfume.”
Source: Conversation (1782), Line 283.
“Whoe'er was edified, themselves were not.”
Source: The Task (1785), Book II, The Timepiece, Line 444.
“Religion! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word!”
Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782), Line 25.
“There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.”
On observing some Names of Little Note.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Source: The Task (1785), Book IV, The Winter Evening, Line 788.
“Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.”
Source: Table Talk (1782), Line 542.
"Pairing Time Anticipated, Moral" (c. 1794).
Source: The Task (1785), Book IV, The Winter Evening, Line 765.
“We have no slaves at home. ─ Then why abroad?”
Source: The Task (1785), Book II, The Timepiece, Line 37.
Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782), Line 37