Top 92 Quotes & Sayings by George Crabbe

A great lie is like a great fish on dry land; it may fret and fling and make a frightful bother, but it cannot hurt you. You have only to keep still, and it will die of itself.

To show the world what long experience gains, requires not courage, though it calls for pains; but at life's outset to inform mankind is a bold effort of a valiant mind.

To the house of a friend if you're pleased to retire, You must all things admit, you must all things admire; You must pay with observance the price of your treat, You must eat what is praised, and must praise what you eat.

To sigh, yet not recede; to grieve, yet not repent.

Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved.

Feed the musician, and he's out of tune.

With eye upraised his master's looks to scan, The joy, the solace, and the aid of man; The rich man's guardian, and the poor man's friend, The only creature faithful to the end.

The game is never lost till won.

Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.

Our farmers round, well pleased with constant gain, Like other farmers, flourish and complain.

In her experience all her friends relied, Heaven was her help and nature was her guide.

What is a church??Our honest sexton tells, 'Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.

But monument themselves memorials need.

Habit with him was all the test of truth; It must be right: I've done it from my youth.

'T was good advice, and meant, my son, Be good.

The gentle fair on nervous tea relies, Whilst gay good-nature sparkles in her eyes; An inoffensive scandal fluttering round, Too rough to tickle, and too light to wound.

Life is not measured by the time we live.

Secrets with girls, like guns with boys, are never valued till they make a noise.

How often do we sigh for opportunities for doing good, whilst we neglect the openings of Providence in little things, which would frequently lead to the accomplishment of most important usefulness. Good is done by degrees. However small in proportion the benefit which follows individual attempts to do good, a great deal may thus be accomplished by perseverance, even in the midst of discouragements and disappointments.

"Lawyers Are": By law's dark by-ways he has stored his mind with wicked knowledge on how to cheat mankind.

Books cannot always please, however good; Minds are not ever craving for their food.

Void of all honor, avaricious, rash, The daring tribe compound their boasted trash Tincture of syrup, lotion, drop, or pill; All tempt the sick to trust the lying bill.

A sly old fish, too cunning for the hook.

Dreams are like portraits; and we find they please because they are confessed resemblances.

And took for truth the test of ridicule.

Whatever amuses, serves to kill time, to lull the faculties, and to banish reflection. Whatever entertains, usually awakens the understanding or gratifies the fancy. Whatever diverts, is lively in its nature, and sometimes tumultuous in its effects.

Tis easiest dealing with the firmest mind-- More just when it resists, and, when it yields, more kind.

Hence, in these times, untouch'd the pages lie, And slumber out their immortality.

A master passion is the love of news.

Oh! 'tis a precious thing, when wives are dead, To find such numbers who will serve instead: And in whatever state a man be thrown, 'Tis that precisely they would wish their own.

Men of many words sometimes argue for the sake of talking; men of ready tongues frequently dispute for the sake of victory; men in public life often debate for the sake of opposing the ruling party, or from any other motive than the love of truth.

This, books can do-nor this alone; they give New views to life, and teach us how to live; They soothe the grieved, the stubborn they chastise; Fools they admonish, and confirm the wise. Their aid they yield to all: they never shun The man of sorrow, nor the wretch undone; Unlike the hard, the selfish, and the proud, They fly not sullen from the suppliant crowd; Nor tell to various people various things, But show to subjects, what they show to kings.

Ease leads to habit, as success to ease. He lives by rule who lives himself to please.

Arrogance is the act of the great; presumption that of the little.

Lo! the poor toper whose untutored sense, Sees bliss in ale, and can with wine dispense; Whose head proud fancy never taught to steer, Beyond the muddy ecstasies of beer.

In idle wishes, fools supinely stay. Be there a will and wisdom finds a way.

See Time has touched me gently in his race, And left no odious furrows in my face.

Fashion, though Folly's child, and guide of fools, Rules e'en the wisest, and in learning rules.

Against her foes Religion well defends Her sacred truths, but often fears her friends.

Genius! thou gift of Heav'n! thou Light divine! Amid what dangers art thou doom'd to shine! Oft will the body's weakness check thy force, Oft damp thy Vigour, and impede thy course; And trembling nerves compel thee to restrain Thy noble efforts, to contend with pain; Or Want (sad guest!) will in thy presence come, And breathe around her melancholy gloom: To Life's low cares will thy proud thought confine, And make her sufferings, her impatience, thine.

I paint the cot, As truth will paint it, and as bards will not.

Ability comprehends the power of doing in general, without specifying the quality or degree.

With awe, around these silent walks I tread; These are the lasting mansions of the dead.

There is no mind so weak and powerless as not to have its inclinations, and none so guarded as to be without its prepossessions.

The coward never on himself relies, But to an equal for assistance flies.

Shall he who soars, inspired by loftier views, Life's little cares and little pains refuse? Shall he not rather feel a double share Of mortal woe, when doubly arm'd to bear?

Wine, like the rising sun, possession gains, And drives the mist of dullness from the brains, The gloomy vapor from the spirit flies, And views of gaiety and gladness rise.

Some hearts are hidden, some have not a heart.

Learning is better worth than houses or land.

Who calls a lawyer rogue, may find, too lateUpon one of these depends his whole estate.

The wife was pretty, trifling, childish, weak; She could not think, but would not cease to speak.

Old Peter Grimes made fishing his employ; His wife he cabined with him and his boy, And seemed that life laborious to enjoy.

Who often reads, will sometimes wish to write.

Say, ye oppress'd by some fantastic woes, Some jarring nerve that baffles your repose; Who press the downy couch, while slaves advance With timid eye, to read the distant glance; Who with sad prayers the weary doctor tease, To name the nameless ever-new disease; Who with mock patience dire complaints endure, Which real pain and that alone can cure; How would ye bear in real pain to lie, Despised, neglected, left alone to die? How would ye bear to draw your latest breath, Where all that's wretched paves the way for death?

I grant indeed that fields and flocks have charms, For him that gazes or for him that farms.

Oh, rather give me commentators plain, Who with no deep researches vex the brain; Who from the dark and doubtful love to run, And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun.

Deceivers are the most dangerous members of society. They trifle with the best affections of our nature, and violate the most sacred obligations.

Anger makes us strong, Blind and impatient, And it leads us wrong; The strength is quickly lost; We feel the error long.

Circles in water as they wider flow The less conspicuous in their progress grow, And when at last they trench upon the shore, Distinction ceases and they're view'd no more.

Oh, Conscience! Conscience! man's most faithful friend, Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend; But if he will thy friendly checks forego, Thou art, oh! woe for me, his deadliest foe!