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Quote#Work

Some burn damp faggots, others may consume

Quote byWilliam Butler Yeats · 1865–1939

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), In Memory Of Major Robert Gregory, st. 11.

English (original)

Some burn damp faggots, others may consume The entire combustible world in one small room As though dried straw, and if we turn about The bare chimney is gone black out Because the work had finished in that flare. Soldier, scholar, horseman, he, As ’twere all life’s epitome. What made us dream that he could comb grey hair?

— William Butler Yeats

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