On the waves of the brook she dances by, The light, the lovely dragon-fly; She dances here, she dances there, The shimmering, glimmering flutterer fair. And many a foolish young beetle's impressed By the blue gauze gown in which she is dressed; They admire the enamel that decks her bright, And her elegant waist so slim and slight.

Every woman is the gift of a world to me.

The men of action are, after all, only the unconscious instruments of the men of thought.

He is noble who both feels and acts nobly.

I have never seen an ass who talked like a human being, but I have met many human beings who talked like asses.

Lyrical poetry is much the same an every age, as the songs of the nightingales in every spring-time.

Nothing is sillier than this charge of plagiarism. There is no sixth commandment in art. The poet dare help himself wherever he lists, wherever he finds material suited to his work. He may even appropriate entire columns with their carved capitals, if the temple he thus supports be a beautiful one. Goethe understood this very well, and so did Shakespeare before him.