“He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene,
But with his keener eye
The axe's edge did try.”

—  Andrew Marvell

Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland (1650)

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 "He nothing common did or mean Upon that memorable scene, But with his keener eye The axe's edge did try." by Andrew Marvell?
Andrew Marvell photo
Andrew Marvell 35
English metaphysical poet and politician 1621–1678

Related quotes

Michael Swanwick photo

“He stood unmoving, wondering at his own abrupt and incomprehensible inability to act. He did not fear damnation. Nor did he give a fig for the common opinion of Mankind. There was nothing to stop him but fear alone—fear that his reasoning was wrong.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 1, “Trinity” (p. 17)

Edmund Spenser photo

“But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.”

Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene

Canto 1, stanza 2
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book I

James Hudson Taylor photo

“Our eyes must be upon the Lord, not upon His people. His means – not ours, not theirs, but His means are large; and to a faithful steward He will prove a faithful master.”

James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) Missionary in China

(A.J. Broomhall. Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century, Book Five: Refiner’s Fire. London: Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1985, 382).

Stephen King photo

“Time apparently did nothing but blunt grief’s sharpest edge so that it hacked rather than sliced.”

Stephen King book Lisey's Story

Source: Lisey's Story

Stendhal photo

“Jean Jacques Rousseau," he answered, "is nothing but a fool in my eyes when he takes it upon himself to criticise society; he did not understand it, and approached it with the heart of an upstart flunkey…. For all his preaching a Republic and the overthrow of monarchical titles, the upstart is mad with joy if a Duke alters the course of his after-dinner stroll to accompany one of his friends.”

Stendhal book The Red and the Black

J.-J. Rousseau, répondit-il, n'est à mes yeux qu'un sot, lorsqu'il s'avise de juger le grand monde; il ne le comprenait pas, et y portait le cœur d'un laquais parvenu... Tout en prêchant la république et le renversement des dignités monarchiques, ce parvenu est ivre de bonheur, si un duc change la direction de sa promenade après dîner, pour accompagner un de ses amis.
Vol. II, ch. VIII
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)

Simon Spurrier photo

“[T]he Skeksis will always be horribly memorable. I'm pretty sure the scene where the Chamberlain is attacked and defrocked by his sneering brothers gave me nightmares as a youngster.”

Simon Spurrier (1981) British comic writer

Interview with Syfy Wire

John Donne photo

“Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread
Our eyes, upon one double string;
So to entergraft our hands, as yet
Was all the means to make us one,
And pictures in our eyes to get
Was all our propagation.”

John Donne (1572–1631) English poet

The Extasy, line 7

Klemens von Metternich photo

“But what did he mean by that?”

Klemens von Metternich (1773–1859) Austrian diplomat

Metternich remarking upon hearing the news of Castlereagh's death by suicide.
Greenhalgh, Michael. Marble Past, Monumental Present: Building with Antiquities in the Mediaeval Mediterranean. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 (pp. 20).

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“To me, it has always been a matter of wonder that Christ said nothing as to the obligation man is under to his country, nothing as to the rights of the people as against the wish and will of kings, nothing against the frightful system of human slavery—almost universal in his time. What he did not say is altogether more wonderful than what he did say. It is marvelous that he said nothing upon the subject of intemperance, nothing about education, nothing about philosophy, nothing about nature, nothing about art. He said nothing in favor of the home, except to offer a reward to those who would desert their wives and families.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

"To the Indianapolis Clergy." The Iconoclast (Indianapolis, IN) (1883)

Related topics