Quote#Death
Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down
Quote byJames Beattie · 1735–1803
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius (1771), Book ii. Stanza 17..
English (original)
Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down, Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, With here and there a violet bestrewn, Fast by a brook or fountain’s murmuring wave; And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave!
— James Beattie
More from James Beattie
Ah, who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame’s proud temple shines afar?
Laws, as we read in ancient sages, Have been like cobwebs in all ages: Cobwebs for little flies are spread, And laws for little folks are made; But if an insect of renown, Hornet or beetle, wasp or drone,
When squint-eyed Slander plies the unhallow'd tongue, From poison'd maw when Treason weaves his line, And Muse apostate (infamy to song!) Grovels, low muttering, at Sedition's shrine.
What is a law, if those who make it Become the forwardest to break it?
Every man of learning wishes, that his son may be learned; and that not so much from a view to pecuniary advantage, as from a desire to have him supplied with the means of useful instruction and liberal amusement.
Wilt thou debase the heart which God refined? No; let thy heaven-taught soul to heaven aspire, To fancy, freedom, harmony, resigned; Ambition's groveling crew forever left behind.