Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?

Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?

Sofas 'twas half a sin to sit upon,
So costly were they; carpets, every stitch
Of workmanship read more

Sofas 'twas half a sin to sit upon,
So costly were they; carpets, every stitch
Of workmanship so rare, they make you wish
You could glide o'er them like a golden fish.

Luxury and dissipation, soft and gentle as their approaches are,
and silently as they throw their silken chains about read more

Luxury and dissipation, soft and gentle as their approaches are,
and silently as they throw their silken chains about the heart,
enslave it more than the most active and turbulent vices.

These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' th' alehouse.

These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' th' alehouse.

For thence,--a paradox
Which comforts while it mocks,--
Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail:
read more

For thence,--a paradox
Which comforts while it mocks,--
Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail:
What I aspired to be,
And was not, comforts me:
A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale.

Fell luxury! more perilous to youth
Than storms or quicksands, poverty of chains.

Fell luxury! more perilous to youth
Than storms or quicksands, poverty of chains.

Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its
necessities.

Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its
necessities.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances read more

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind

The mind begins to boggle at unnatural substances as things
paradoxical and incomprehensible.

The mind begins to boggle at unnatural substances as things
paradoxical and incomprehensible.