If I live to grow old, as I find I go down,
Let this be my fate in a read more

If I live to grow old, as I find I go down,
Let this be my fate in a country town;
May I have a warm house, with a stone at my gate,
And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate.
May I govern my passions with an absolute sway,
Grow wiser and better as my strength wears away,
Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.
- Walter Pope, The Old Man's Wish,

"Man wants but little here below
Nor wants that little long,"
'Tis not with me exactly so;
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"Man wants but little here below
Nor wants that little long,"
'Tis not with me exactly so;
But 'tis so in the song.
My wants are many, and, if told,
Would muster many a score;
And were each wish a mint of gold,
I still should long for more.

Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them.

Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them.

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

Man wants but little, nor that little long;
How soon must he resign his very dust,
Which read more

Man wants but little, nor that little long;
How soon must he resign his very dust,
Which frugal nature lent him for an hour!

Of all complexions the culled sovereignty
Do meet, as at a fair, in her fair cheek,
Where read more

Of all complexions the culled sovereignty
Do meet, as at a fair, in her fair cheek,
Where several worthies make one dignity,
Where nothing wants that want itself doth seek.

Every wish
Is like a prayer--with God.

Every wish
Is like a prayer--with God.

My wish isn't to mean everything to everyone but something to someone.

My wish isn't to mean everything to everyone but something to someone.

He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he called another; that arrives,
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He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he called another; that arrives,
Meets the same welcome; yet he still calls on;
Till one calls him, who varies not his call,
But holds him fast, in chains of darkness bound,
Till Nature dies, and judgment sets him free;
A freedom far less welcome than this chain.