“In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.”
William Wordsworth book Lyrical Ballads
Source: Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800), Lines Written in Early Spring, st. 1 (1798).
To the Daisy.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.”
William Wordsworth book Lyrical Ballads
Source: Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800), Lines Written in Early Spring, st. 1 (1798).
“Father in heaven, when the thought of thee awakens in our soul”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Journals and Papers IIA320
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s
Context: Father in heaven, when the thought of thee awakens in our soul, let it not waken as an agitated bird which flutters confusedly about, but as a child waking from sleep with a celestial smile.
“If I should meet thee
After long years
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.”
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement
“Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States
Source: 1880s, Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885), Ch. 67.
Context: Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting, and said that he had asked for this interview for the purpose of getting from me the terms I proposed to give his army. I said that I meant merely that his army should lay down their arms, not to take them up again during the continuance of the war unless duly and properly exchanged. He said that he had so understood my letter.
“Someday, he thought, I would like to meet a monster who looked like a monster.”
Ira Levin book The Boys from Brazil
The Boys from Brazil (1976)
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement
When We Two Parted (1808), st. 4.