“And at our feet unbroken lay
The glass that had whirled us thither away:
And in the grass, among the flowers
We sat and wished all sorts of things:
O, we were wealthier than kings!
We ruled the world for several hours!

And then, it seemed, we knew not why,
All the daisies began to die.
We wished them alive again; but soon
The trees all fled up towards the moon
Like peacocks through the sunlit air:
And the butterflies flapped into silver fish;
And each wish spoiled another wish;
Till we threw the glass down in despair;
For, getting whatever you want to get,
Is like drinking tea from a fishing net.”

— Alfred Noyes

Part III : The Mystic Ruby
The Flower of Old Japan and Other Poems (1907), The Flower of Old Japan

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Do you have more details about the quote "And at our feet unbroken lay The glass that had whirled us thither away: And in the grass, among the flowers We sat …" by Alfred Noyes?

Alfred Noyes 59

English poet 1880–1958

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted (1994)

“That we must all die, we always knew; I wish I had remembered it sooner.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

“All of us wish we had an Alice. I wish I had an Alice.”

Ann B. Davis (1926–2014) American actress

(Referring to her character on The Brady Bunch) in People magazine in 1992

“Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

“There are insane people who wish to rule the world. They wish to continue to rule the world on violence and repression, and we are all the victims of that violence and repression.”

John Trudell (1946–2015) Native American rights activist, musician, poet

"We are Power" speech (1980)

“Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the Saints we must live like them.”

Théodore Guérin (1798–1856) Catholic saint and nun from France

Letter to Sisters at Saint Mary's, 1848.
Context: Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the Saints we must live like them. Let us force ourselves to imitate their virtues, in particular humility and charity.

“Back to the glass in terror we came,
And stared at the writing round the frame.
We could not understand one word:
And suddenly we thought we heard
The hissing of the snakes again:
How could we front them all alone?
O, madly we clutched at the mirrored stone
And wished we were back on the flowery plain:
And swifter than thought and swift as fear
The whole world flashed, and behold we were there.”

Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) English poet

Part III : The Mystic Ruby
The Flower of Old Japan and Other Poems (1907), The Flower of Old Japan

“If we are all alive ten years hence, let's meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

“In all professions we affect a part and an appearance to seem what we wish to be. Thus the world is merely composed of actors.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Dans toutes les professions chacun affecte une mine et un extérieur pour paraître ce qu'il veut qu'on le croie. Ainsi on peut dire que le monde n'est composé que de mines.
Variant translation: In all professions, each affects a part and an appearance to make him seem as he would wish to be believed. And so it is that one can say that the world is made only of appearances.
Maxim 256.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Now you hung with me when all the others turned away turned up their nose.
We liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we liked the same clothes.
We told each other that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever seen.
Now I wished you would have told me, I wished I could have talked to you.
Just to say goodbye Bobby Jean.”

Bruce Springsteen (1949) American singer and songwriter

"Bobby Jean"
Song lyrics, Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

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Alfred Noyes 59

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