“Action is transitory—a step, a blow—
The motion of a muscle—this way or that—
'Tis done; and in the after-vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed.”
The White Doe of Rylstone, l. 1 (1807).
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William Wordsworth 306
English Romantic poet 1770–1850Related quotes
“Some men a forward motion love,
But I by backward steps would move.”
"The Retreat," l. 29.
Silex Scintillans (1655)

The Pragmatics of Patriotism (1973)
Context: In this complex world, science, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going. If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.

“But if I have done the public any service this way, 'tis due to”
Newton to Bentley, 10 December 1692 (first letter), The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, ed. H. W. Turnbull (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961), 3:233. Referenced on p. 383 of Snobelen SD: " The Theology of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica: A Preliminary Survey https://isaacnewtonstheology.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/theology-of-the-principia.pdf," pp. 377–412, Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, Volume 52, Issue 4 (Jan 2010)
Context: When I wrote my treatise about our System, I had an eye upon such principles as might work with considering men for the belief of a Deity and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose. But if I have done the public any service this way, 'tis due to nothing but industry and a patient thought.

answer to what she would like young readers to take away after reading her first children's book -- quote from Latina Magazine (October 2005)
2007, 2008

“Wondering aloud, If we were orcs, wouldn't we, at a racial level, ourselves to look like elves?”
Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Translation from the Dhammapada of Gautama Buddha, as translated in The Dharma, or The Religion of Enlightenment; An Exposition of Buddhism (1896)

Source: Pali Canon, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Minor Collection), Dhammapada, Ch. 165, as translated in The Dharma, or The Religion of Enlightenment; An Exposition of Buddhism (1896) by Paul Carus; variants for some years have included "We ourselves must walk the path but Buddhas clearly show the way", but this is not yet located in any of the original publications of Carus.