John Godfrey Saxe Quotes (1816-1887)

“Don't use strong drink, — pray let me advise, —
It 's bad for the stomach, and ruins the eyes;”

“Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.”

“In vain I speak of urgent tasks;
In vain I scowl and pout;
A frown is no extinguisher —
It does not put him out!”

“A youth would marry a maiden,
For fair and fond was she;
But he was high and she was low,
And so it might not be.”

“A youth would marry a maiden,
For fair and fond was she;
But she was rich, and he was poor,
And so it might not be.”

“Again I hear the creaking step! —
He's rapping at the door! —
Too well I know the boding sound
That ushers in a bore.”

“A youth would marry a maiden,
For fair and fond was she;
But their sires disputed about the Mass,
And so it might not be.”

“"God bless the man who first invented sleep!"
So Sancho Panza said, and so say I.”

“Young men! it 's a critical thing to go
Exactly right with a lady in tow;
But when you are in the proper track,
Just go ahead, and never look back!”

“"Once more, my gallant boys!" he cried:
"Three times! — you know the fable, —
(I'll make it thirty," muttered he,
"But I will lay the cable!")”

“INGLORIOUS friend! most confident I am
Thy life is one of very little ease;
Albeit men mock thee with their similes
And prate of being "happy as a clam!"”

“It was six men of Hindustan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind)
That each by observation
Might satisfy the mind.”

“I asked of Echo 't other day
(Whose words are few and often funny),
What to a novice she could say
Of courtship, love, and matrimony.
Quoth Echo, plainly, — "Matter-o'-money."”

“But blast the man, with curses loud and deep,
Whate'er the rascal's name, or age, or station,
Who first invented, and went round advising,
That artificial cut-off, — Early Rising!”

“I like the lad who, when his father thought
To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase
Of vagrant worm by early songster caught,
Cried, "Served him right! — it's not at all surprising;
The worm was punished, sir, for early rising!"”

“I'm growing fonder of my staff;
I'm growing dimmer in the eyes;
I'm growing fainter in my laugh;
I'm growing deeper in my sighs;
I'm growing careless of my dress;
I'm growing frugal of my gold;
I'm growing wise; I'm growing — yes, —
I'm growing old!”

“When Nature gives a gorgeous rose,
Or yields the simplest fern,
She writes this motto on the leaves, —
"To whom it may concern!"
And so it is the poet comes
And revels in her bowers,
And, — though another hold the land,
Is owner of the flowers.”

“In battle or business, whatever the game,
In law or in love, it is ever the same;
In the struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf,
Let this be your motto, — Rely on yourself!
For, whether the prize be a ribbon or throne,
The victor is he who can go it alone!”

“And so these men of Hindustan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right
And all were in the wrong.

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!”

“The Poet's License! — 't is the right,
Within the rule of duty,
To look on all delightful things
Throughout the world of beauty.

To gaze with rapture at the stars
That in the skies are glowing;
To see the gems of perfect dye
That in the woods are growing, —
And more than sage astronomer,
And more than learned florist,
To read the glorious homilies
Of Firmament and Forest.”