Quote#Nature
I care not, Fortune, what you me deny
Quote byJames Thomson · 1700–1748
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Castle of Indolence (1748), Canto II, Stanza 3.
English (original)
I care not, Fortune, what you me deny; You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, You cannot shut the windows of the sky, Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve. Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave: Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.
— James Thomson
More from James Thomson
When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung this strain: 'Rule, Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.'
O Sophonisba! Sophonisba, O!
Forever, Fortune, wilt thou prove An unrelenting foe to love, And, when we meet a mutual heart, Come in between and bid us part?
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe: With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er, Each smooth as those that mutually deceive, And for their falsehood each despising each.
Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valour, liberty, and virtue Displays distinguish'd merit, is a noble Of Nature's own creating.
These as they change, Almighty Father! these Are but the varied God. The rolling year Is full of Thee.