QuoteProject
Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,_x000D_ _x000D_ Less pleasing when possest;_x000D_ _x000D_ The tear forgot as soon as shed,_x000D_ _x000D_ The sunshine of the breast.
Thomas Gray
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that desire and imagination often lead to greater pleasure than the actual attainment of what we long for.

In this quote, Thomas Gray reflects on the nature of hope and desire. He posits that the joy derived from aspirations and dreams can often be more fulfilling than the reality of those aspirations. The 'gay hope' signifies the vibrant joy we feel in our fantasies, which can quickly diminish once we achieve what we desire, leading to a sense of fleeting happiness. The idea that tears are quickly forgotten underscores how our emotions can be transient, and that the true warmth and joy might lie more in our hopes than in their realization.

Themes

HopeDesireImaginationPleasureHappiness

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about pursuing dreams, one might quote Gray to illustrate the fleeting nature of happiness.

More from Thomas Gray

Visions of glory, spare my aching sight! Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
Thomas GrayRead
Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.
Thomas GrayRead
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death?
Thomas GrayRead
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Thomas GrayRead
Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade! Ah, fields beloved in vain! Where once my careless childhood stray'd, A stranger yet to pain! I feel the gales that from ye blow A momentary bliss bestow.
Thomas GrayRead
Any fool may write a most valuable book by chance, if he will only tell us what he heard and saw with veracity.
Thomas GrayRead

Similar quotes

Preaching the gospel without the Holy Spirit is to miss the entire point of the command of Jesus Christ for our era. In the area of "Christian activities" or "Christian service," how we are doing it is at least as important as what we are doing.
Francis SchaefferRead
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
HerodotusRead
Every fragile beauty, every perfect forgotten sentence, you grieve their going away, but that is not how it is. Where they come from never goes dry. It is an always flowing spring.
RumiRead
The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.
Edward GibbonRead
I speak to the paper, as I speak to the first person I meet.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Oh that I could have the cross painted on my eyeballs, that I could not see anything except through the medium of my Savior’s passion!
Charles SpurgeonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.