Quote#Nature
Work is its own best earthly need
Quote byJean Ingelow · 1820–1897
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Monitions of the Unseen (1871), "Work", line 12, p. 54..
English (original)
Work is its own best earthly need, Else have we none more than the sea-born throng Who wrought these marvellous isles that bloom afar.
— Jean Ingelow
More from Jean Ingelow
The while He sits whose name is Love, And waits, as Noah did, for the dove, To wit if she would fly to him.He waits for us, while, houseless things, We beat about with bruised wings On the dark floods and water-springs, The ruined world, …
Let me be only sure; for sooth to tell The sorest dole is doubt.
Is there never a chink in the world above Where they listen for words from below?
Crowds of bees are giddy with clover Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet, Crowds of larks at their matins hang over, Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet.
But two are walking apart forever And wave their hands for a mute farewell.
And sweeter woman ne'er drew breath Than my sonne's wife, Elizabeth.