“We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”

St. 18
To a Skylark (1821)
Source: The Complete Poems

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 17, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest …" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley 246
English Romantic poet 1792–1822

Related quotes

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

“Our sweetest songs are those of saddest thought.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet

Source: The Complete Poems

George William Russell photo

“We are tired who follow after
Phantasy and truth that flies:
You with only look and laughter
Stain our hearts with richest dyes.”

George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter

By Still Waters (1906)

Anne Michaels photo
Adelaide Anne Procter photo
Nick Cave photo
Michael Card photo
Cass Elliot photo

“Our job as entertainers is to ease some pain. So to begin with, you have to know what and where the pain is.”

Cass Elliot (1941–1974) American singer

Statement in Spring of 1972, while participating in the presidential campaign of George McGovern; as quoted at the official Cass Elliot website.
Context: Our job as entertainers is to ease some pain. So to begin with, you have to know what and where the pain is. I've never campaigned before and I wanted to be damn sure before putting my name behind anyone. I wrote to all the campaign officers to find out what they were. My issue is that it's all very well to sit back and complain but when it's your country you have a responsibility.

“Our poet's singing lips are dumb:
This his last gift, to us has brought
The pain pressed vintage of his thought
His life of song, his life of pain,
And, being dead, he speaks again.”

Flora Thompson (1876–1947) English author and poet

From On Reading a Posthumous book Gillian Lindsay -Biography of Flora Thompson 1990 ISBN 9781873855539
Poetry

Related topics