“Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise.”

—  Matthew Prior

Carmen Seculare http://books.google.com/books?id=gtYWAAAAQAAJ&q="Forbear+to+mention+what+thou+canst+not+praise"&pg=PA157#v=onepage (1700).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise." by Matthew Prior?
Matthew Prior photo
Matthew Prior 23
British diplomat, poet 1664–1721

Related quotes

“Patience, a praise; forbearance is a treasure;
Sufferance, an angel is; a monster, rage.”

Edward Fairfax (1580–1635) English translator

Book V, stanza 47
Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Charles Kingsley photo

“Do not fancy, as too many do, that thou canst praise God by singing hymns to Him in church once a week, and disobeying Him all the week long. He asks of thee works as well as words; and more, He asks of thee works first and words after.”

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian and novelist

Source: Attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 456.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

“Awake, my soul! not only passive praise
Thou owest!”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

"Hymn in the Vale of Chamouni" (1802)
Context: Awake, my soul! not only passive praise
Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears,
Mute thanks and secret ecstasy. Awake,
Voice of sweet song! awake, my heart, awake!
Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my hymn.

Walter Scott photo

“For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 33, The Black Knight speaking to Locksley.

Thomas Moore photo

“If I speak to thee in friendship's name,
Thou think'st I speak too coldly;
If I mention love's devoted flame,
Thou say'st I speak too boldly.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

How shall I woo?
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Philip Sidney photo

“Stella, think not that I by verse seek fame,
Who seek, who hope, who love, who live but thee;
Thine eyes my pride, thy lips mine history:
If thou praise not, all other praise is shame.”

Philip Sidney book Astrophel and Stella

Sonnet 90.
Astrophel and Stella (1591)

John Lancaster Spalding photo

“If thy words are wise, they will not seem so to the foolish: if they are deep the shallow will not appreciate them. Think not highly of thyself, then, when thou art praised by many.”

John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 164

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

“Great hierarch! tell thou the silent sky,
And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun,
Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

"Hymn in the Vale of Chamouni" (1802)
Context: Solemnly seemest like a vapoury cloud
To rise before me — Rise, oh, ever rise;
Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth!
Thou kingly spirit throned among the hills,
Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven,
Great hierarch! tell thou the silent sky,
And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun,
Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.

Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye photo

“Rest now—and weep—thou praised of Earth!
And own, when all is done,
A world's false worship is not worth
The deep tried love of one.”

Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye (1807–1867) British songwriter, composer, poet and author

"Fame", line 25; p. 141.
Songs, Poems, & Verses (1894)

Johannes Kepler photo

“The wisdom of the Lord is infinite as are also His glory and His power. Ye heavens, sing His praises., sun, moon, and planets, glorify Him in your ineffable language! Praise Him, celestial harmonies, and all ye who can comprehend them! And thou, my soul, praise thy Creator! It is by Him and in Him that all exist.”

Johannes Kepler book Harmonices Mundi

Harmonices Mundi (1618)
Source: Reported in Methodist Review (1873), vol. 55, pp. 187–88.
Source: As quoted in Forty Thousand Sublime and Beautiful Thoughts (1904) ed. Charles Noel Douglas, p. 845. https://books.google.com/books?id=I0ZAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA845

Related topics