You May Also Like / View all maxioms
Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent read more
Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent wish conveys,
And wafts embodied though, a thousand ways:
Could souls to bodies write, death's pow'r were mean,
For minds could then meet minds with heav'n between.
Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no
good.
Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no
good.
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful; messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, read more
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful; messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some.
An exquisite invention this,
Worthy of Love's most honeyed kiss,--
This art of writing billet-doux--
read more
An exquisite invention this,
Worthy of Love's most honeyed kiss,--
This art of writing billet-doux--
In buds, and odors, and bright hues!
In saying all one feels and thinks
In clever daffodils and pinks;
In puns of tulips; and in phrases,
Charming for their truth, of daisies.
Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.
Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.
Messenger of sympathy and love,
Servant of parted friends,
Consoler of the lonely,
Bond read more
Messenger of sympathy and love,
Servant of parted friends,
Consoler of the lonely,
Bond of the scattered family,
Enlarger of the common life.
The welcome news is in the letter found;
The carrier's not commission'd to expound;
It speaks itself, read more
The welcome news is in the letter found;
The carrier's not commission'd to expound;
It speaks itself, and what it does contain,
In all things needful to be known is plain.
(He) put that which was most material in the postscript.
(He) put that which was most material in the postscript.
I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
read more
I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
[Fr., Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas
eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.]