Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Alexander PopeRead
Dear, damned, distracting town, farewell! Thy fools no more I'll tease: This year in peace, ye critics, dwell, Ye harlots, sleep at ease!
Interpretation
The speaker is bidding farewell to a town filled with distractions and critics, seeking peace away from it.
In this quote, Alexander Pope expresses his desire to escape from the chaotic and judgmental environment of the town, filled with foolishness and distractions that hinder his peace. It reflects a yearning for tranquility away from those who criticize and trouble him, indicating a need for space to reflect and create without the interruptions from societal expectations and negativity.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about the impact of a noisy environment on creativity.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare; And beauty draws us with a single hair.
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;_x000D_ _x000D_ Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.
Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
A critic is to an author as a fungus to an oak.
We have to keep company with supposedly bad characters if we are to survive and not succumb to mental atrophy. People of good character, so called, are the ones who end up boring us to death.
Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.
When most people said "I'm psychic, you see," they meant "I have an overactive but unoriginal imagination/wear black nail varnish/talk to my budgie;" when Anathema said it, it sounded as though she was admitting to a hereditary disease which she'd much prefer not to have.
There is nothing in the whole frame of man which seems to me so unaccountable as that thing called conscience.
Older men start wars, but younger men fight them.
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