Question Everything

“He hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

— Johann L. Uhland(b. 1787)

1 Timothy iii. 3.

“Oh for a tongue to curse the slave Whose treason, like a deadly blight, Comes o'er the councils of the brave, And blasts them in their hour of might!”

— Thomas Moore(b. 1779)

The Fire-Worshippers.

“Unwept, unhonour'd, uninterr'd he lies![341-2]”

— Alexander Pope(b. 1688)

The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 422.

“Whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones.”

— Johann L. Uhland(b. 1787)

Matthew xxiii. 24.

“You think they are crusaders sent From some infernal clime, To pluck the eyes of sentiment And dock the tail of Rhyme, To crack the voice of Melody And break the legs of Time.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes(b. 1809)

The Music-Grinders.

“Grind the faces of the poor.”

— Johann L. Uhland(b. 1787)

Isaiah iii. 1.

“Power, like a desolating pestilence, Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience, Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth, Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame A mechanized automaton.”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley(b. 1792)

Queen Mab. i.

“O curse of marriage, That we can call these delicate creatures ours, And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad, And live upon the vapour of a dungeon, Than keep a corner in the thing I love For others' uses.”

— William Shakespeare(b. 1564)

Othello. Act iii. Sc. 3.

“Where bastard Freedom waves The fustian flag in mockery over slaves.”

— Thomas Moore(b. 1779)

Anacreontic.

“No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon, No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day, . . . . . . No road, no street, no t' other side the way, . . . . . . No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no buds.”

— Thomas Hood(b. 1798)

The Bridge of Sighs.

“So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear, Farewell remorse; all good to me is lost. Evil, be thou my good.”

— John Milton(b. 1608)

Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 96.

“Modestus said of Regulus that he was "the biggest rascal that walks upon two legs."”

— Pliny The Younger(b. 61)

“Religion blushing, veils her sacred fires, And unawares Morality expires. Nor public flame nor private dares to shine; Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine! Lo! thy dread empire Chaos is restor'd, Light dies before thy uncreating word; Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall, And universal darkness buries all.”

— Alexander Pope(b. 1688)

The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 614.

“That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose.”

— William Shakespeare(b. 1564)

Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 5.

“Take note, take note, O world, To be direct and honest is not safe.”

— William Shakespeare(b. 1564)

Othello. Act iii. Sc. 3.

“Led by my hand, he saunter'd Europe round, And gather'd every vice on Christian ground.”

— Alexander Pope(b. 1688)

The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 301.

“Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.”

— William Shakespeare(b. 1564)

Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3.

“Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,--how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour; what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. 'T is insensible, then? yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I 'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism.”

— William Shakespeare(b. 1564)

King Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. 1.

“He shall be buried with the burial of an ass.”

— Johann L. Uhland(b. 1787)

Jeremiah xvii. 1.

“The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise is gone.”

— Edmund Burke(b. 1729)

Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 331.