As the pearl ripens in the obscurity of its shell, so ripens in the tomb all the fame that is truly precious.
Walter Savage LandorThe moderate are not usually the most sincere, for the same circumspection which makes them moderate makes them likewise retentive of what could give offence.
Walter Savage LandorI never did a single wise thing in the whole course of my existence, although I have written many which have been thought so.
Walter Savage LandorMany love music but for music's sake, Many because her touches can awake Thoughts that repose within the breast half-dead, And rise to follow where she loves to lead. What various feelings come from days gone by! What tears from far-off sources dim the eye! Few, when light fingers with sweet voices play, And melodies swell, pause, and melt away, Mind how at every touch, at every tone, A spark of life hath glistened and hath gone.
Walter Savage Landor