Poetry is not like reasoning, a power to be exerted according to the determination of the will. A man cannot say, 'I will compose poetry.' The greatest poet even cannot say it; for the mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness...and the conscious portions of our natures are unprophetic either of its approach or its departure.

The good want power, but to weep barren tears. The powerful goodness want: worse need for them. The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom.

I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die.

The advocates of literal interpretation have been the most efficacious enemies of those doctrines whose nature they profess to venerate.

If a person's religious ideas correspond not with your own, love him nevertheless

Then black despair, The shadow of a starless night, was thrown Over the world in which I moved alone.

Love's Pestilence, and her slow dogs of war.