All that's bright must fade,—
The brightest still the fleetest;
All that's sweet was made
But to be lost when sweetest!
National Airs: All that's bright must fade. T. MOORE.
O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan.
Sorrow calls no time that's gone:
Violets plucked, the sweetest rain
Makes not fresh nor grow again.
The Queen of Corinth, Act iii. Sc. 2. J. FLETCHER.
Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy.
The Course of Time, Bk. I. R. POLLOK.
Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest showers,
And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest winds.
Misc. Sonnets, Pt. I. XXXIII. W. WORDSWORTH.
Affliction is the good man's shining scene;
Prosperity conceals his brightest ray;
As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man.
Night Thoughts, Night IX. DR. E. YOUNG.
Like a ball that bounds
According to the force with which 'twas thrown
So in affliction's violence, he that's wise
The more he's cast down will the higher rise.
Microcosmos. T. NABBES.
O, fear not in a world like this,
And thou shalt know erelong,—
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.
The Light of Stars. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
SOUL.
Summe up at night what thou hast done by day;
And in the morning what thou hast to do.
Dresse and undresse thy soul; mark the decay
And growth of it: if, with thy watch, that too
Be down, then winde up both; since we shall be
Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree.
The Temple: The Church Porch. G. HERBERT.