Tell me not things past all belief;

Tell me not things past all belief;
One truth in you I prove;
The flame of anger, bright and brief,
Sharpens the barb of Love.

Walter Savage Landor

Walter Savage Landor was an English writer, poet, and dramatist. He is best known for his prose work, the 'Imaginary Conversations,' but also wrote numerous poems and plays. Landor had a tempestuous character and often found himself in conflict with authorities and contemporaries. Despite his combative nature, he was highly regarded by other literary figures such as Charles Dickens and Robert Browning. His works reflect his classical education and strong individualism.

Walter Savage Landor

To Charles Dickens

Walter Savage Landor, Simple Poetry

A Ballad Of The Trees And The Master

Walter Savage Landor, Simple Poetry

Death Undreaded

Walter Savage Landor, Simple Poetry

Well I remember how you smiled

Walter Savage Landor, Simple Poetry

English

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You Smiled, You Spoke, And I Believed

You smiled, you spoke, and I believed,
By every word and smile deceived.
Another man would hope no more;
Nor hope I what I hoped before:
But let not this last wish be vain;
Deceive, deceive me once again!

Walter Savage Landor

Quotations II

"There is no easy path leading out of life, and few easy ones that lie within it."

"The flame of anger, bright and brief, sharpens the barb of love."

"Delay in justice is injustice."

"Everything that looks to the future elevates human nature."

"I strove with none; for none was worth my strife."

"No thoroughly occupied person was ever found really miserable."

Walter Savage Landor

Quotations V

"We think that we suffer from ingratitude, while in reality we suffer from self-love."

"The writing of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander."

"We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier."

"Consult duty not events."

"A man's vanity tells him what is honor, a man's conscience what is justice."

"Every sect is a moral check on its neighbour. Competition is as wholesome in religion as in commerce."

"In argument, truth always prevails finally; in politics, falsehood always."

"An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof."

"Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in excess."

"I warmed both ha...

Walter Savage Landor

Quotations III

"No ashes are lighter than those of incense, and few things burn out sooner."

"There is delight in singing, though none hear beside the singer."

"Many laws as certainly make bad men, as bad men make many laws."

"We cannot be contented because we are happy, and we cannot be happy because we are contented."

"A solitude is the audience-chamber of God."

Walter Savage Landor

To Lanthe

You smild, you spoke, and I believd,
By every word and smile deceivd.
Another man would hope no more;
Nor hope I what I hopd before:
But let not this last wish be vain;            
Deceive, deceive me once again!

Walter Savage Landor

How To Read Me

To turn my volumes oer nor find
(Sweet unsuspicious friend!)
Some vestige of an erring mind
To chide or discommend,

Believe that all were lovd like you
With love from blame exempt,
Believe that all my griefs were true
And all my joys but dreamt.

Walter Savage Landor