Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

Lord, it is my chief complaint, That my love is weak and faint; Yet I love thee and adore, Oh for grace to love thee more!

Strange as it may seem, the most ludicrous lines I ever wrote have been written in the saddest mood.

Where thou art gone, adieus and farewells are a sound unknown.

O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?

Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.

Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.