Matthew Arnold

The pursuit of the perfect, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and
light.

The pursuit of the perfect, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and
light.

Her cabin'd ample spirit,
It fluttered and fail'd for breath;
Tonight it doth inherit
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Her cabin'd ample spirit,
It fluttered and fail'd for breath;
Tonight it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.

The Greek word euphuia, a finely tempered nature, gives exactly
the notion of perfection as culture brings us to read more

The Greek word euphuia, a finely tempered nature, gives exactly
the notion of perfection as culture brings us to perceive it; a
harmonious perfection, a perfection in which the characters of
beauty and intelligence are both present, which unites "the two
noblest of things"--as Swift . . . most happily calls them in his
Battle of the Books, "the two noblest of things, sweetness and
light."

Still bent to make some port he knows not where, still standing for some false impossible shore.

Still bent to make some port he knows not where, still standing for some false impossible shore.

Hark! ah, the nightingale--
The tawny-throated!
Hark from that moonlit cedar what a burst!
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Hark! ah, the nightingale--
The tawny-throated!
Hark from that moonlit cedar what a burst!
What triumph! hark!--what pain!
. . . .
Again--thou hearest?
Eternal passion!
Eternal pain!