Quote#Kindness
Give me, kind Heaven, a private station
Quote byJohn Gay · 1685–1732
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Fables, Part the Second (1738), The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds. Compare: "When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station", Joseph Addison, Cato, Act iv, scene 4.
English (original)
Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation: Title and profit I resign; The post of honour shall be mine.
— John Gay
More from John Gay
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.
Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.
So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.
'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.
My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear.
Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.