“What is precious is never to forget
The delight of the blood drawn from ancient springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth”

— Stephen Spender

"I Think of Those Who Were Truly Great"
Poems (1933)
Context: What is precious is never to forget
The delight of the blood drawn from ancient springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth;
Never to deny its pleasure in the simple morning light,
Nor its grave evening demand for love;
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

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Stephen Spender 76

English poet and man of letters 1909–1995

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Misattributed

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Act II., Scene III. — (Dormi).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 357.
Compare: Perlone Zipoli, Malmantile Racquistato, VIII, 75: Di rapa sangue non si puo cavare.
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Seneca the Younger Hercules Furens

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Tragedies

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"I'll See You Again," Bitter Sweet, Act 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=ICVHprNgia8C&q=%22I'll+see+you+again+whenever+spring+breaks+through+again%22&pg=PA229#v=onepage