Visions of glory, spare my aching sight! Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
Thomas GrayRead
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the value of the lives of the poor, urging us not to dismiss their stories with arrogance.
In this quote, Thomas Gray emphasizes the importance of recognizing the simplicity and dignity in the lives of the poor. He warns against the disdain that often accompanies the wealthy and powerful when they regard the unremarkable lives of the less fortunate, suggesting that every life, no matter how humble, has its own unique narrative that deserves respect and acknowledgment.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a lecture on social justice to highlight the importance of valuing all lives.
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight! Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
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.
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death?
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.
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.
Any fool may write a most valuable book by chance, if he will only tell us what he heard and saw with veracity.
What is it about our society where anyone who does not have Asperger's gets talked out of their heterodox ideas?
Each finite creature can reflect only a fraction of the divine nature; thus, in the diversity of His creatures, God's infinity, unity and oneness appear to be broken into an effulfgence of manifold rays.
For He is in the midst of us day and night [in the Blessed Sacrament]; He dwells in us with the fullness of grace and truth. He raises the level of morals, fosters virtue, comforts the sorrowful, strengthens the weak and stirs up all those who draw near to Him to imitate Him, so that they may learn from his example to be meek and humble of heart, and to seek not their own interests but those of God.
Do you suppose that it is within your power to insult me? You evidently are not aware to whom you are speaking? Do you imagine that the envenomed spittle of five hundred little gentlemen of your type, heaped one upon another, would succeed in slobbering so much as the tips of my august toes?
I think there's a lot of anesthesia being - that's been pumped into American culture, the mass media television, various forms of entertainment, and the illusion of wealth that we now understand to be an illusion as well as the illusion that America is a world power.
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision.
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