“That great brow
And the spirit-small hand propping it.”

— Robert Browning , By the Fireside

By the Fireside, xxiii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

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Robert Browning 179

English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era 1812–1889

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Context: When the spirit touches
man's heart and brow
with thoughts that are lofty, bold, serene,
so that with clear eyes he will face the world
as a free man may;
when the spirit gives birth to action
by which alone we stand or fall;
when from the sane and resolute action
rises the workd that gives a a man's life
content and meaning — then would that many,
lonely and actively working,
know of the spirit that grasps and befriends him...