Every man, in proportion to his virtue, considers himself, with respect to the great community of mankind, as the steward and guardian of their interests in the property which he chances to possess. Every man, in proportion to his wisdom, sees the manner in which it is his duty to employ the resources which the consent of mankind has intrusted to his discretion.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyForget the dead, the past? O yet there are ghosts that may take revenge for it, memories that make the heart a tomb, regrets which gild throโ the spiritโs gloom, and with ghastly whispers tell that joy, once lost, is pain.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyIt were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its color and odor, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear no flower -- and this is the burthen of the curse of Babel.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyAh! what a divine religion might be found out if charity were really made the principle of it instead of faith.
Percy Bysshe Shelley