Marina

“You may see the disc of Divinity quite clearly through the smoked glass of humanity, but no otherwise.”
― Coventry Patmore

“Grandeur," said Pangloss, "is extremely dangerous according to the testimony of philosophers. For, in short, Eglon, King of Moab,[Pg 167] was assassinated by Ehud; Absalom was hung by his hair, and pierced with three darts; King Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, was killed by Baasa; King Ela by Zimri; Ahaziah by Jehu; Athaliah by Jehoiada; the Kings Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, were led into captivity. You know how perished Crœsus, Astyages, Darius, Dionysius of Syracuse, Pyrrhus, Perseus, Hannibal, Jugurtha, Ariovistus, Cæsar, Pompey, Nero, Otho, Vitellius, Domitian, Richard II. of England, Edward II., Henry VI., Richard III., Mary Stuart, Charles I., the three Henrys of France, the Emperor Henry IV.! You know——"

"I know also," said Candide, "that we must cultivate our garden.”
― Voltaire, Candide

“He would praise her beyond the moon and stars, and that so sweetly and ravishingly, as I persuade myself he was more in love with his own curious forming fancy than her face; and truth is, many become passionate lovers only to win praise to their wits.”
― Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works

“Oh God! To hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust !”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol