“The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.”

“One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.”

“What is a Poet? He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on of the universe, and habitually impelled to create them where he does not find them.”

“A cheerful life is what the Muses love, A soaring spirit is their prime delight.”

“My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky:So was it when my life began;So is it now I am a man;”

“My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky:So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!The Child is father of the Man;And I could wish my days to beBound each to each by natural piety.”

“Books! tis a dull and endless strife:Come, hear the woodland linnet,How sweet his music! on my life,There's more of wisdom in it.”