Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval.

Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval.

I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
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I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
I want to be forgotten even by God.

It is better to be famous than notorious, but better to be notorious than obscure.

It is better to be famous than notorious, but better to be notorious than obscure.

Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.

Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.

Yet was he but a squire of low degree.

Yet was he but a squire of low degree.

Some write their wrongs in marble: he more just,
Stoop'd down serene and wrote them on the dust,
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Some write their wrongs in marble: he more just,
Stoop'd down serene and wrote them on the dust,
Trod under foot, the sport of every wind,
Swept from the earth and blotted from his mind,
There, secret in the grave, he bade them lie,
And grieved they could not 'scape the Almighty eye.

He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well.
[Lat., Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]

He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well.
[Lat., Bene qui latuit, bene vixit.]