Quote#Art
To keep in sight Perfection, and adore
Quote byWilliam Watson · 1858–1935
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Epigrams of Art, Life, and Nature (1884), XXXVII, line 1..
English (original)
To keep in sight Perfection, and adore The vision, is the artist's best delight; His bitterest pang, that he can ne'er do more Than keep her long'd-for loveliness in sight.
— William Watson
More from William Watson
God, by the earlier sceptic, was exiled; The later is more lenient grown and mild: He sanctions God, provided you agree To any other name for deity.
Man looks at his own bliss, considers it, Weighs it with curious fingers; and 'tis gone.
April, April, Laugh thy girlish laughter; Then, the moment after, Weep thy girlish tears!
The Poet gathers fruit from every tree, Yea, grapes from thorns and figs from thistles he. Pluck'd by his hand, the basest weed that grows Towers to a lily, reddens to a rose.
And, though circuitous and obscure, The feet of Nemesis how sure!
Flower-fondled, clasp'd in ivy's close caress, It seems with Nature, yet apart.