George Crabbe



George Crabbe (December 24, 1754 – February 3, 1832) was an English poet, known for his realistic and unsentimental portrayals of peasant life.

Quotes

 * Where Plenty smiles - alas! she smiles for few, And those who taste not, yet behold her store, Are as the slaves that dig the golden ore, The wealth around them makes them doubly poor.
 * The Village, Book 1, line 136 (1783).


 * The murmuring poor, who will not fast in peace.
 * The Newspaper (1785), line 158.


 * A master passion is the love of news.
 * The Newspaper (1785), line 279.


 * Our farmers round, well pleased with constant gain, Like other farmers, flourish and complain.
 * The Parish Register (1807), Part 1: "Baptisms", line 273.


 * Oh, rather give me commentators plain, Who with no deep researches vex the brain; Who from the dark and doubtful love to run, And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun.
 * The Parish Register (1807), Part i, "Introduction". Compare "How commentators each dark passage shun, / And hold their farthing candle to the sun", Edward Young, Love of Fame, Satire vii, Line 97.


 * Her air, her manners, all who saw admir'd; Courteous though coy, and gentle though retir'd; The joy of youth and health her eyes display'd, And ease of heart her every look convey'd.
 * The Parish Register (1807), Part ii, "Marriages".


 * The mind here exhibited is one untouched by pity, unstung by remorse, and uncorrected by shame; yet is this hardihood of temper and spirit broken by want, disease, solitude, and disappointment, and he becomes the victim of a distempered and horror-stricken fancy.
 * The Borough (1810), "Preface"


 * Habit with him was all the test of truth, It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth.
 * The Borough (1810), Letter iii, "The Vicar", line 138.


 * In this fool's paradise he drank delight.
 * The Borough (1810), Letter xii, "Players".


 * Books cannot always please, however good; Minds are not ever craving for their food.
 * The Borough (1810), Letter xxiv, "Schools".


 * In idle wishes fools supinely stay; Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.
 * The Birth of Flattery, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Tales in Verse (1812)

 * Who calls a lawyer rogue, may find, too late Upon one of these depends his whole estate.
 * Tales iii, "The Gentleman Farmer".


 * Cut and come again.
 * Tale vii, "The Widow's Tale".


 * Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved.
 * Tale xiv, "The Struggles of Conscience". Compare: "'T is better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all", Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxvii.


 * But 'twas a maxim he had often tried, That right was right, and there he would abide.
 * Tale xv, "The Squire and the Priest". Compare: "For right is right, since God is God", Frederick William Faber, The Right must win.


 * 'T was good advice, and meant, my son, Be good.
 * Tale xxi, "The Learned Boy".

Tales of the Hall (1819)

 * Secrets with girls, like loaded guns with boys, Are never valued till they make a noise.
 * "The Maid's Story", line 84 (1819).


 * He tried the luxury of doing good.
 * Book iii, "Boys at School". Compare: "And learn the luxury of doing good", Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, Line 22.


 * To sigh, yet not recede; to grieve, yet not repent.
 * Book iii, "Boys at School". Compare: To sigh, yet feel no pain", Thomas Moore The Blue Stocking.


 * And took for truth the test of ridicule.
 * Book viii, "The Sisters".


 * Time has touched me gently in his race, And left no odious furrows in my face.
 * Book xvii, "The Widow". Compare: "Touch us gently, Time", Bryan W. Procter, Touch us gently, Time; "Time has laid his hand / Upon my heart, gently", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend, iv.