Quote#Desire
It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well!
Quote byJoseph Addison · 1672–1719
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Cato, A Tragedy (1713), Act V, scene i.
English (original)
It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well! Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, O falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man.
— Joseph Addison
More from Joseph Addison
On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait, And from your judgment must expect my fate.
Music religious heat inspires, It wakes the soul, and lifts it high, And wings it with sublime desires, And fits it to bespeak the Deity.
When time itself shall be no more, And all things in confusion hurl'd, Music shall then exert it's power, And sound survive the ruins of the world: Then saints and angels shall agree In one eternal jubilee:
Consecrate the place and day To music and Cecilia. Let no rough winds approach, nor dare Invade the hallow'd bounds, Nor rudely shake the tuneful air, Nor spoil the fleeting sounds.
Music, the greatest good that mortals know, And all of heaven we have below.
Let echo, too, perform her part, Prolonging every note with art; And in a low expiring strain, Play all the concert o'er again.