Nothing ever becomes real till experienced โ even a proverb is no proverb until your life has illustrated it
John KeatsI scarcely remember counting upon happinessโI look not for it if it be not in the present hourโnothing startles me beyond the moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights, or if a sparrow come before my Window I take part in its existence and pick about the gravel.
John KeatsCan death be sleep, when life is but a dream, And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by? ---"On death
John KeatsWe hate poetry that has a palpable design upon us - and if we do not agree, seems to put its hand in its breeches pocket. Poetry should be great & unobtrusive, a thing which enters into one's soul, and does not startle it or amaze it with itself but with its subject. - How beautiful are the retired flowers! how would they lose their beauty were they to throng into the highway crying out, "admire me I am a violet! dote upon me I am a primrose!"
John Keats