“But optics sharp it needs, I ween,
To see what is not to be seen.”

Canto i, line 67.
McFingal (1775-1782)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "But optics sharp it needs, I ween, To see what is not to be seen." by John Trumbull (poet)?

John Trumbull (poet)4

American poet 1750–1831

Related quotes

“Well," I said. "If you need me, I'll be outside, playing with sharp objects.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“I've seen [visual] editors like that, but I don't feel a need for them. I don't want to see the state of the file when I'm editing.”

Ken Thompson (1943) American computer scientist, creator of the Unix operating system

Thompson on the superiority of <tt>ed</tt> to editors such as today's <tt>vi</tt> or <tt>emacs</tt>, as summarized by Peter Salus in A Quarter Century of UNIX (Addison-Wesley, 1994). http://web.archive.org/web/20080103071208/http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/

“I see that I must give what I most need.”

Anne Michaels (1958) Poet and novelist

“I've seen the future and it will be
I've seen the future and it works
If there's life after, we will see
So I can't go like a jerk
Systematic overthrow of the underclass
Hollywood conjures images of the past
New world needs spirituality that will last
I've seen the future and it will be.”

Prince (1958–2016) American pop, songwriter, musician and actor

The Future
Song lyrics, Batman (1989)

“I don't know when we'll see each other again or what the world will be like when we do. We may both have seen many horrible things. But I will think of you every time I need to be reminded that there is beauty and goodness in the world.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

“"I assume I'm expendable, sir." "You're a soldier, aren't you? Of course you're expendable!" Sharpe was still smiling. He was a soldier, and a lady needed recuing, and was that not what soldiers throughout history had done?”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Captain Richard Sharpe and Major General Nairn, p. 49
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“To act nobly, a noble heart is not enough. It needs help from a sharp mind.”

Leon R. Kass (1939) American academic

Looking for an Honest Man (2009)
Context: To act nobly, a noble heart is not enough. It needs help from a sharp mind. Though the beginnings of ethical virtue lie in habituation, starting in our youth, and though the core of moral virtue is the right-shaping of our loves and hates, by means of praise and blame, reward and punishment, the perfection of character finally requires a certain perfection of the mind.