Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landorwas an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity. As remarkable as his work was, it was equalled by his rumbustious character and lively temperament...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth30 January 1775
hands weight bears
Prose on certain occasions can bear a great deal of poetry; on the other hand, poetry sinks and swoons under a moderate weight of prose.
friendship virtue
Virtue is presupposed in friendship.
government long democracy
A mercantile democracy may govern long and widely; a mercantile aristocracy cannot stand.
kings greatness pedestal
The tomb is the pedestal of greatness. I make a distinction between God's great and the king's great.
friendship precious-stones broken
Let me take up your metaphor. Friendship is a vase, which, when it is flawed by heat or violence or accident, may as well be broken at once; it can never be trusted after. The more graceful and ornamental it was, the more clearly do we discern the hopelessness of restoring it to its former state. Coarse stones, if they are fractured, may be cemented again; precious stones, never.
strife quarrels
I strove with none; for none was worth my strife.
wise wisdom writing
The writing of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander.
greatness law bird
It appears to be among the laws of nature, that the mighty of intellect should be pursued and carped by the little, as the solitary flight of one great bird is followed by the twittering petulance of many smaller.
greatness
Greatness, as we daily see it, is unsociable.
power missing may
Where power is absent we may find the robe of genius, but we miss the throne.
friendship sun righteousness
Friendships are the purer and the more ardent, the nearer they come to the presence of God, the Sun not only of righteousness but of love.
future looks human-nature
Everything that looks to the future elevates human nature.
grace thrones kneeling
Piety--warm, soft, and passive as the ether round the throne of Grace--is made callous and inactive by kneeling too much.
dance heart dancing
Not dancing well, I never danced at all--and how grievously has my heart ached when others where in the full enjoyment of that conversation which I had no right even to partake.