Grand Thoughts that never can be wearied out,
Showing the unreality of Time.
Thoughts that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers.
Ohne Phosphor kein Gedanke.
No thought without phosphorus.
His thoughts have a high aim, though their
dwelling be in the vale of a humble heart.
It is often said that second thoughts are best.
So they are in matters of judgment, but not in
matters of conscience. In matters of duty, first
thoughts are commonly best. They have more
in them of the voice of God.
Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
Thought can wing its way
Swifter than lightning-flashes or the beam
That hastens on the pinions of the morn.
As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Gaily I lived as ease and nature taught,
And spent my little life without a thought,
And am amazed that Death, that tyrant grim,
Should think of me, who never .thought of him.
Sweetest mother, I can weave no more to-day,
For thoughts of him come thronging,
Him for whom my heart is longing;—
For I know not where my weary fingers stray.
—.
At Learning's fountain it is sweet to drink,
But 'tis a nobler privilege to think.
Es lebt ein anders denkendes Geschlecht!
There lives a race which otherwise does think.
Still are the thoughts to memory dear.
Ah! comme vous dites, il faut glisser sur bien des pensées, et ne faire pas semblant de les voir.
Ah! as you say, we should slip over many thoughts and act as though we did not perceive them.
But now behold,
In the quick forge and working-house of thought,
How London doth pour out her citizens!
My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel.
A maiden hath no tongue but thought.
| author =
| work = Merchant of Venice.
| place = Act III. . Sc. 2. L. 8.
| note =
| topic =
| page = 789
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = Men's first thoughts in this matter are generally better than their second; their natural notions better than those refin'd by study, or consultation with casuists.
| author = Earl of Shaftesbury
| work = Characteristics. Essay on The Freedom of Wit and Humour.
| place = Sect. I.
| seealso = (See also Dryden, Shenstone)
| topic =
| page = 789
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = Strange thoughts beget strange deeds.
| author = Shelley
| work = The Cenci.
| place = Act IV. Sc. 4.
| note =
| topic =
| page = 789
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>A thought by thought is piled, till some great truth
Is loosened, and the nations echo round,
Shaken to their roots, as do the mountains now.
Come near me! I' do weave
A chain I cannot break—I am possest
With thoughts too swift and strong for one lone human breast.
Second thoughts oftentimes are the very worst
of all thoughts.
Shenstone:—Detached Thoughts on Men and Manners.
| seealso = (See also Dryden)
| topic =
| page = 789
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.
| author = Sir Philip Sidney
| work = The Arcadia.
| place = Bk. I.
| note =
| topic =
| page = 789
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>If I could think how these my thoughts to leave,
Or thinking still, my thoughts might have good end:
If rebel sense would reason's law receive;
Or reason foil'd would not in vain contend:
Then might I think what thoughts were best to think:
Then might I wisely swim, or gladly sink.
Oh, the fetterless mind! how it wandereth free
Through the wildering maze of Eternity!
Thinking is but an idle waste of thought,
And naught is everything, and everything is naught.
Thought can never be compared with action,
but when it awakens in us the image of truth.
