“Thine eye was on the censer,
And not the hand that bore it.”
Lines by a Clerk; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
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Oliver Wendell Holmes135
Poet, essayist, physician 1809–1894Related quotes
Jesus (-7–30 BC) Jewish preacher and religious leader, central figure of Christianity
12:13 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/kjv/kjv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=4380943 (KJV) Said to a man with a withered hand. <br class="br">New Testament, Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 8–12
“There is nothing small in God's eyes; let there be nothing small in thine.”
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet
Thoughts and Aphorisms (1913), Karma
“And looks commercing with the skies,
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.”
John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet
Source: Il Penseroso (1631), Line 39
“Look out upon the stars, my love,
And shame them with thine eyes.”
Edward Coote Pinkney (1802–1828) American poet, lawyer, sailor, professor, and editor
A Serenade, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
George Parsons Lathrop (1851–1898) United States novelist and poet
"The Sunshine of thine Eyes" in Dreams and Days (1892).
“When Thou didst regard me,
Thine eyes imprinted in me Thy grace:”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom
Context: When Thou didst regard me,
Thine eyes imprinted in me Thy grace:
For this didst Thou love me again,
And thereby mine eyes did merit
To adore what in Thee they saw. ~ 32
Dora Greenwell (1821–1882) English poet
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 88.
“Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true,
And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning book Sonnets from the Portuguese
No. LXIV
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
Context: Here's ivy! — take them, as I used to do
Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.
Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true,
And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.